Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

blog.usejournal.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 530 posts

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#101

Post by Andrex »

tjungblut wrote: post #56
edoo wrote: post #37

My adwords account was terminated after 7 years of inactivity for some violation regarding how I used my original $100 free credit to experiment with click metrics. I got a similar letter when I appealed. I didn't realize it until a couple years after it was terminated when I wanted to promote a self made product. I have to use someone else's account now to run my ads. It feels excessive.

I have the same issue and it happened already more than 10 years (!) ago by now. Indeed there is no possible way to get adwords enabled again after such a termination.

Same, was over 10 years ago for me as well. Still banned.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#102

Post by nurettin »

bdibs wrote: post #50

I actually just got my Google Ads account suspended because I forgot to update my billing address before adding a new card. The suspension was for "suspicious billing activity", tried appealing twice with the correct billing address, and was told the suspension is final (some automated email) both times. They won't take my calls because the account is suspended, which leaves me not being able to advertise on the #1 s…

Why not open a new account, or release a new copy your app using a different namespace? I mean it is an inconvenience, but we aren't exactly as powerless as is described in the article.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#103

Post by [deleted] »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #54
ben_w wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App stores are the least-unreliable mechanism I have to trust executable code. I don’t even enable JavaScript by default. Do you have an alternative trust mechanism that can’t be subverted via, for example, algorithmic voting?

A generalization is not necessary here, for me there is a huge difference between Apple's App Store and Google Play. The former actually has real people behind it that you can talk to, also on the phone, and who are really friendly and will reach out to help you fix problems. Also, they do really review the app, obviously using automated tools, but still there's some human involvement. Google tries to be smarter than…

[deleted]

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#104

Post by ohiovr »

I would be interested in knowing what app you made. Completely agree that Google is heavy handed and they treat developers (and really anyone that depends on them) as bugs they don’t care about squashing. Only if your story goes viral will the beast wake up and put out the fire in the kitchen.

Don’t forget that there are other markets for apks such as it is. Play revenue is dismal compared to Apple App Store anyway.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#106

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

lovich wrote: post #47
noonespecial wrote: post #27

The question I always have with this stuff is this: To attract developers, these platforms make some promises. A "review" process for supposed violations of TOS causing cancellations is always among them. But to me these "reviews" always seem either completely faked or some version of a lowest-level employee simply restating that the algo has made its choice and they are powerless. More incriminating is that every ti…

>Isn't this legally actionable fraud? Does it matter if it is? B2B lawsuits only get down to the actual law if the parties have a relatively equal amount of money. A small or medium business going after google _after google has shut off their revenue_ is not going to ever win

we need more of the Max Schrems type in Tech. I wonder what a lawyer that moved into software / Tech or vice versa could achieve. I wouldn't underestimate the havoc "little men" can reach

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#107

Post by deanmoriarty »

Slightly off topic, but:

My main problem in getting away from Google is: who will protect my email/phone accounts as well as Google does with GMail and Google Voice? Sadly, those are the main means of authentication for my multiple financial accounts (for most banks phone and emails are the only 2FA methods available).

I am not worried about the privacy issues, I'm mostly worried about Google deciding to terminate my account for some reason, like in this case. I'm also not worried about getting locked out due to losing my 2FA secrets, since I backup them in multiple places.

The obvious solution would be: buy my own domain and then connect it to another email provider or G Suite, right? However, now I have a point of failure that is my domain registrar and my DNS provider, and I'm sure that even the ones that offer strong security (e.g. Gandi with U2F) are more prone to getting successfully hacked than @gmail.com, from both a technical point of view (e.g. attackers violating their systems and change the DNS records for my domain) and social engineering point of view (e.g. crafted support requests pretending to be me and begging to reset my 2FA).

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#108

Post by BucketSort »

ezoe wrote: post #57

The moral of the story is, don't relies on monopolized software distribution platform.

How can you not rely on these platforms if you are building an app? You cannot expect anyone to go download .apk's manually. Users are too coddled to do anything different when downloading/installing the app. The real moral of the story is that we are just peasants on these platforms and can be washed away with a flick of a finger. In the end, become Zuck or get zucked.

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#109

Post by deogeo »

nurettin wrote: post #102
bdibs wrote: post #50

I actually just got my Google Ads account suspended because I forgot to update my billing address before adding a new card. The suspension was for "suspicious billing activity", tried appealing twice with the correct billing address, and was told the suspension is final (some automated email) both times. They won't take my calls because the account is suspended, which leaves me not being able to advertise on the #1 s…

Why not open a new account, or release a new copy your app using a different namespace? I mean it is an inconvenience, but we aren't exactly as powerless as is described in the article.

It's probably trivial for Google to associate his new account with the old one. Nothing to hide, nothing to fear..

Re: Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

#110

Post by Arnt »

lovich wrote: post #96
gambiting wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's basically how it works. It costs you very little(couple hundred £ at most) to ask a lawyer to craft a letter to send to Google legal team saying they have to resolve the issue for you within 14 days or you will be taking them to court. And if there's one thing that's absolutely certain is that Google's law team's time is way more expensive than whatever lawyer you found to write a letter or two is going to cha…

If your theory here was true, why does every small business who gets in this situation get stuck with no recourse when its just a few hundred to fix the problem? Yes, Google could likely not handle the legal costs if everyone went after them in court. Much like prosecutors in the US, what Google does is go hard on anyone who tries to defend themselves legally. At the point the calculus a small business has to make is…

Do you have some examples of Google doing that?

(Honest question. I would remember it if I'd heard about that happening, but I might very well not hear about it in the first place.)

Post reply on HN