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Google terminated our business via our Google Play Developer Account

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131–140 of 530 posts

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

#131

> I had created a Google Developer Account simply so I could pass on the login details to my app developers who uploaded and updated the app via my account each time. Sounds like one of those developers was previously banned for violating ToS and Google suspects the author is the same person with a new account trying to evade the ban. Instead of sharing login details, the correct thing to do is add a user and give th…

Reminds me of how gaming accounts are frequently banned for automation or similar cheating, only to pull at heart strings saying they were hacked and that they themselves did not commit the cheating. With VPNs and similar tools it can be difficult for the moderator to know for sure so bad actors take advantage of the situation. As a result you get a painful margin of error the is difficult to reduce without significa…

I've never heard of such a case in gaming resulting in the person being unbanned, but maybe it's a newer development?

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

#132
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…

We really need tech monopolies like Google to be regulated, in order to stop abuses like this.

Google Play is not a monopoly! It takes one checkbox in Settings to open the floodgates to any app (or app store) you want, and device manufacturers (such as Amazon) can ship their own app stores pre-enabled if they want.

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

#133
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.

What if OP made a new company, and did an arms-length asset sale at fair market value of the old company's IP?

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

#134
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most consumers want real apps, not webapps, and mobile browsers don't make webapps easy to launch and use either.

Except on Reddit. People constantly complain about ads for the better than the web page app.

Complaints about the ads are not complaints about the app.

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

#135
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dont trust google and [don't] have a strategy that totally relies on a party out of your control Last week, much of Google and Facebook were brought to a halt after Apple revoked their enterprise certificates. While the circumstances justified Apple's actions in this case, the fact remains that even Google and Facebook are largely reliant on another large company. If Apple completely banned all Facebook apps from t…

I guess it would hurt Apple quite a lot as well, as I guess many users use their Apple products mainly to use Facebook's apps...

For most of my family and friends, their smart phones may as well be designated Facebook portals. As sick as that makes me, that is the world we live in.

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

#136
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see how you can not be reliant on Apple/Google. This is the very definition of a monopoly, isn't it? If the government was working properly, it would be ready to break up these companies, as well in other areas of oligopoly such as oil and banking.

> MONOpoly > thESE companIES

Antitrust covers market manipulation and coercion though, which you could easily argue these companies have (monopoly over certain platforms such as the iPhone; magically identical pricing).

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

#137

I note from the mention of £25k that you're probably in the UK. If you don't mind burning fifty quid or so, you might find it satisfying to use the small claims process to issue for a sensible (not super-inflated) estimate of damages. The below is not legal advice, but is written from personal experience. Try to leave a clear paper trail of your reasonableness: send a clear notice before action with a reasonable time…

> Their costs will be substantial and the rules do not allow them to recover them from a non-vexatious claimant... Do the rules allow them to bring the question of whether the claimant is non-vexatious to litigation?

I've been a claimant from time to time but am not a solicitor, so you'd need to ask a proper lawyer.

Nobody has even tried anything like that in any of my claims, it's deliberately a very high bar, but as far as I know, it'd be a decision you'd ask the judge to make at the end, in the same way you ask for your court fee when the respondent refused your offer to settle in the notice-before-action.

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

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of how gaming accounts are frequently banned for automation or similar cheating, only to pull at heart strings saying they were hacked and that they themselves did not commit the cheating. With VPNs and similar tools it can be difficult for the moderator to know for sure so bad actors take advantage of the situation. As a result you get a painful margin of error the is difficult to reduce without significa…

I've never heard of such a case in gaming resulting in the person being unbanned, but maybe it's a newer development?

My experience comes from a specific niche: MMORPG botting which using an automation script to train/goldfarm for the account while the player is not at the computer. This is coupled with a large amount of account scamming/hacking such that it is fairly reasonable that someone might have stolen your account and botted on it for their own gains.

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

#139
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.

Any account they can connect with you also gets banned.

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

#140
post #112

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…

So says you. This is what the ToS say: Google may terminate this Agreement with You for any reason with thirty (30) days' prior written notice. In addition, Google may, at any time, immediately suspend or terminate this Agreement with You if: (a) You have breached any provision of this Agreement, any non-disclosure agreement or other agreement relating to Google Play or the Android platform; (b) Google is required to…

You are quite right about that. I guess the question is, can they very publicly offer a review process which is essentially a functionless placebo button or is that misleading enough to subject them to any liability at all?
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