Google has joined Apple in promising to investigate a Saudi app that lets men control women's travel, as pressure from rights groups and international lawmakers builds on the tech giants. Google will review the app to determine whether it violates its policies, a spokesman told The New York Times on Wednesday "...A Google spokesman confirmed that the company is assessing the app to determine if it is in accordance with its policies," The Times reported.

Numerous high-profile US politicians condemned Apple and Google on Wednesday. They called on the tech giants to kill the service from their app stores...On Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote to Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that they "immediately remove" Absher from the App Store and Google Play. The app "flies in the face of the type of society you both claim to support and defend," Wyden wrote. "American companies should not enable or facilitate the Saudi government's patriarchy," he said, calling the Saudi system of control over women "abhorrent."

The Saudi Interior Ministry, who made the app, have responded to the wave of negative media coverage, criticizing attempts to "politicize" the issue.