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Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

purpleleafsoftware.com

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Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#81

Post by balls187 »

ams6110 wrote: post #42
echelon wrote: post #8

Can we sue Google when they do things like this? No single entity should wield this much power. And we should rewrite the laws to make this so. Google and Apple wanted to be in the role of gatekeeper, so they should be beholden to the apps on their platform. We had a web where developers were in control of their own deployment. Everything was decentralized and required responsibility and diligence. Now the power is o…

No you can't sue them. Nobody has a right to publish apps on Google Play. They can be as arbitrary or incompetent as they like in what they do. As long as they aren't violating some protected class criteria, there's not much a court is going to do. Google hasn't taken away anything. There is still a web and you're free to deploy what you want there on your terms. (Edits to correct Google's autocorrect errors.)

(IANAL)

You CAN sue them, but for what is unclear. "Wielding too much power" isn't a crime.

And even if you could find a legitimate reason, you are unlikely to win. I would assume Google Play's Terms of Service has several clauses, including indemnity, arbitration, and agreement that Google can remove your app at anytime for any reason.

Any of those should be sufficient to have the suit summarily dimissed.

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#82

Post by balls187 »

iamthirsty wrote: post #46
joshmn wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a lawyer, but anti-trust could apply.

No it can't, Google isn't the only "App Store" in town, and you are not forced to use them, so it in no way could apply.

"Could apply", and "likely to win in court" are two VERY different arguments.

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#83

Post by balls187 »

ams6110 wrote: post #50
sverhagen wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't they take away the level playing field when they created the playing field?

They built a nice new field with a wall around it and guards at the gates. The old open field with all the weeds and litter is still there.

Googles field is also full of weeds, and litter.

And it's guards are fairly inept.

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#84

Post by auscompgeek »

floatingatoll wrote: post #7
godelski wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am still experiencing an error in FF65 (Secure connection failed)

Perhaps you need to disable HTTPS Everywhere — the link in this post is HTTP, not HTTPS.

I have HTTPS Everywhere and didn't have any problems accessing the link (it loaded over cleartext HTTP as intended).

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#85

Post by hombre_fatal »

mrschwabe wrote: post #37

Why anyone would develop apps for Apple/Google duopoly is beyond me. Right, I get that you may need the money - but if your livelihood depends on money earned from making this world a worser place perhaps it is time to gut check and determine what really is your purpose and best use of time; maybe (easy) money is not all it's cut out to be in that context.

> making this world a worser place

The reality is that we're here and it's now and everyone already owns a smartphone and you can enrich people's world with an app that helps them find love, participate in community, develop a hobby, find a new podcast, expand their mind, discover their creativity, track their ambitions, and more.

There's a lot of crap, too, but there's no sense throwing the baby out with the bathwater and then sitting around hoping things change. There's a world you can engage right now, and it's indifferent to your ideals.

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#86

Post by Aeolun »

balls187 wrote: post #83
ams6110 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They built a nice new field with a wall around it and guards at the gates. The old open field with all the weeds and litter is still there.

Googles field is also full of weeds, and litter. And it's guards are fairly inept.

But it’s the field everyone plays on. What are you going to do. Play by yourself?

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#87

Post by ucaetano »

fouc wrote: post #79
_jgvg wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I, the engineer, do not want them to do this. You don't matter, consumers matter. > Before Google and Apple, I didn't have this problem. And you didn't have distribution either. > But it wasn't always this way! Indeed, there wasn't even distribution. Do you actually remember what was shipping mobile software back in 2005? > I want them to pay back the negative externalities they've leveraged onto us. Again, you as…

Why can't mobile follow the same model as desktop?

It does, you can download an apk and install it on Android.

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#88

Post by point78 »

megy wrote: post #12

I got that too. I had no ads, but I did have a link to other apps that I made that were similar (It was a city travel guide app). That counted as an ad apparently. Yeah, I can see there point, so I changed the link text.

A popup link or just sitting on a page onside the app somewhere?

Did you get reinstated once removed?

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#89

Post by point78 »

eddieone wrote: post #68

Similar happened to us, they want to keep the traffic in their platform so they want for tricky behavior, confusing buttons, ect. Pretty anal about getting constant updates to games, makes it impossible for small companies to survive.

Did you get reinstated eventually?

Re: Google removed my ads-free app for “deceptive ads”

#90

Post by ucaetano »

echelon wrote: post #73
ucaetano wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The web didn't disappear, quite the opposite. Now you have the web AND the in-device app stores. Even more choice.

But they're not equal citizens on mobile devices. Web often feels sluggish on mobile, and it doesn't have the same access to device and hardware APIs, nor does it allow low-level control of concurrency and allocation. (I don't want to get off topic about HTML/JS. It does a lot of jobs well.) There could have been an open, cross-platform native app stack if Apple and Google and a consortium of other companies had join…

You can do all of that, just download the apk. What you seem to want is that app stores should be forced to accept any apps?

The rest is just saudosistic nostalgia. There wasn't mass access to the internet, you're just missing the times when a small elite had access to the internet.

Consumers are far better now than they were.

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