Microsoft will show ads on YouTube app… if it’s allowed to

Microsoft has responded to a cease and desist letter from Google asking it to remove its recently released YouTube app from its app store.

In the letter, Google claims that the app allows people to download videos and strips out all the advertising. While that might sound like some people’s ideal version of the video-sharing service, it does mean that Google is losing out on revenue that is rightly its.

In its response, Microsoft says that it will gladly show ads on the videos but only if Google allows it to. “We’d be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs,” The Verge quotes a Microsoft spokesperson as saying.

Comments made by Google CEO Larry Page at this year’s I/O developer conference appear to have only increased Microsoft’s resolve to find a solution to the problem. “In light of Larry Page’s comments today calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers,” the Microsoft spokesperson said.

According to Google, the app, which supports sign-in, downloads and a full YouTube experience, violates the terms and conditions of its API and the internet giant has demanded that Microsoft pull the app by 22 May.