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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”

#121

Post by supermatt »

scarface74 wrote: post #45
echelon wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App stores are monopolies, and their governance leaves much to be desired (as is the subject of this article). I'm fine paying the AWS tax. It's a generic utility more or less and I can just as easily use Azure or Google (assuming you're not baked into certain offerings, but that's out of scope and honestly is a choice .) If you want on Android there's no choice. You play by Google's rules and pay their tax. People g…

So do you feel the same way about console makers? Every game that ships for any console has to be approved by the console maker - including physical media. It’s been that way since the 80s.

100% feel this way about console games. That something was that way in the 80s, doesn't mean it's the correct behaviour in the present.

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

#122

Post by kuschku »

mav3rick wrote: post #112
hayd wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you kicked out African Americans would you say it's your garden, your choice?

No because discrimination based on color is forbidden by the law. Discrimination on clearly set rules by the company that are not against fundamental laws is allowed. Also, your analogy is way off the mark. Comparing throwing of an app to racial discrimination weakens the very point you're trying to make.

> Discrimination on clearly set rules by the company that are not against fundamental laws is allowed.

Unless (in the EU) the company holds a significant market position, which Google does. In that moment they become subject to antitrust and monopoly laws, and can’t choose with whom to do business anymore.

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

#123

Post by jakobegger »

btown wrote: post #21
KirinDave wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No single entity should wield this much power. And we should rewrite the laws to make this so. I think in fact a lot of people do want them to do this. Folks complain the Play store is full of malware and spam, and that there are data leaks and deceptive ads. Then Google or Apple goes and removes them, and then folks are mad if that process has errors. It seems like a business where you make everyone mad no matter…

It is absolutely possible to do this without making people mad. The solution is simple: educated, intelligent customer service for developers. Heck, make them pay a developer subscription fee to make the customer service cost-neutral. Or make them pay a refundable deposit to escalate a situation for manual review by a trained developer, at the cost of a market salary for however long that developer would take to revi…

I think what Google and Apple should do is to add support for a "premium" upload feature. Leave the standard process as it is, but add a "premium tier". For a fee of 100 EUR, you get to upload an app, and you get a competent review from a real human within a certain time frame, with a list of all things that you must change to make it compliant.

The problem is that right now a spammer who creates hundreds of low effort apps gets the same service as someone who spent months or years on an app, only to get it banned over a minor issue.

I know that reviewing apps and quality control costs a lot of money for Google and Apple, and I'm ready to pay for it, as long as I get some peace of mind that they don't kick me for accidentally violating some policy with a feature that thousands of other apps have as well.

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

#124

Post by supermatt »

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.

Google is (by far) the dominant supplier of android apps, so it very much applies. We can debate this forever, the only thing that will prove it either way is a legal ruling - and I hope that happens soon, and results in a modernisation of competition law.

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

#125

Post by jakobegger »

GorgeRonde wrote: post #110
btown wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is absolutely possible to do this without making people mad. The solution is simple: educated, intelligent customer service for developers. Heck, make them pay a developer subscription fee to make the customer service cost-neutral. Or make them pay a refundable deposit to escalate a situation for manual review by a trained developer, at the cost of a market salary for however long that developer would take to revi…

I shouldn't have to pay for that customer service if Google or Apple's cut is 30% of app revenues.

I'm pretty sure that 99% of apps on the store make so little revenue that it's not worth it to pay someone competent to review them, especially with all the ad supported free apps. So a very low percentage of apps pay for the cost of running the app store.

A fixed filing fee would level that imbalance.

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

#126

Post by e12e »

wolco wrote: post #108
godelski wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing it is actually a https thing. Do you have that on? Because I am currently on a FF66 (different computer) and having the same error. But given the error it looks more to be because there is no https version of the site. Which I'm fine with. If you don't have https I don't need to go to your site.

A news site or blog needs to be https for you to visit for what reason? Is it ideology? Fear of network neighbours spying?

Probably fear of content injection (eg a third party on shared wifi injecting a pdf with a zero day exploit, or just some malicious Javascript).

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

#127

Post by mav3rick »

kuschku wrote: post #122
mav3rick wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No because discrimination based on color is forbidden by the law. Discrimination on clearly set rules by the company that are not against fundamental laws is allowed. Also, your analogy is way off the mark. Comparing throwing of an app to racial discrimination weakens the very point you're trying to make.

> Discrimination on clearly set rules by the company that are not against fundamental laws is allowed. Unless (in the EU) the company holds a significant market position , which Google does. In that moment they become subject to antitrust and monopoly laws, and can’t choose with whom to do business anymore.

The HN bubble is real. At this scale it's hard to make everyone happy. Go have fun with your negativity.

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

#128

Post by User23 »

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…

You can sue Google whenever you like. If you can afford it.

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

#129

Post by Teknoman117 »

Stuckinsofa wrote: post #104
ucaetano wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Don't you have to enable some kind of global special access right? So it's not the same thing.

You have to do that on Windows and macOS now as well...
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