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Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#41

Post by jestinjoy1 »

nocturnial wrote: post #6

Could you post your back-and-forth with google support? In the worst case, I doubt it will resolve anything but it could give other developers an idea on how or how not to communicate with google. In the best case, you might restore your app on google and have a template for other developers on how to deal with this issue. If you have send a request but didn't get a reply, please post those as well.

They banned my app which gives COVID-19 related information in Sign Language. No reply on my appeal yet.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#42

Post by vorpalhex »

webartifex wrote: post #25
cryptoquick wrote: post #5

Google is just such an awful, despicable company, that I've actually moved everything I can from their platform. It wasn't easy, I'd been a Gmail user for nearly 15 years. I'd rather pay Microsoft a hundred bucks a year than support them. That's how much I hate Google.

Agree. I am using the German email provider mailbox.org They even report how often the government forces them to release info with a search warrant. However, I have yet to find an email provider that mimics Gmail's tagging system (=> you can give n many tags to a single email and that email is only kept once on the server). I often think that Google's "Don't do evil" motto is stretched way too often these days.

They removed "Do no evil" from their guidelines.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#43

Post by nocturnial »

scarface74 wrote: post #21
nocturnial wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epic games tried to side step google: > When Fortnite launched on mobile in 2018, Epic Games very notably sidestepped the Google Play Store and pushed users to download the title directly from their website, an effort made to avoid the substantial revenue cuts that Google takes from in-app purchases of Play Store downloads. After 18 months of harsh rhetoric regarding platform gatekeeping, Epic Games says that Fortnit…

And Epic conveniently forgot to mention the part about the security warning being well deserved when it came to Fortnite... https://www.cnet.com/news/fortnites-battle-royale-with-andro...

So while the app was on an alternate store a security lapse was detected and fixed.

Isn't that actually proof that something doesn't need to be on google play to be checked and improved?

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#45

Post by slightwinder »

webartifex wrote: post #25
cryptoquick wrote: post #5

Google is just such an awful, despicable company, that I've actually moved everything I can from their platform. It wasn't easy, I'd been a Gmail user for nearly 15 years. I'd rather pay Microsoft a hundred bucks a year than support them. That's how much I hate Google.

Agree. I am using the German email provider mailbox.org They even report how often the government forces them to release info with a search warrant. However, I have yet to find an email provider that mimics Gmail's tagging system (=> you can give n many tags to a single email and that email is only kept once on the server). I often think that Google's "Don't do evil" motto is stretched way too often these days.

> However, I have yet to find an email provider that mimics Gmail's tagging system

IMAP does support keywords, which are basically tags. Probably some good IMAP-Client supports this?

There is also JMAP as a modern alternative to IMAP in development. Fastmail released a beta-interface for this, which also includes tag-support AFAIK.

And finally, Outlook surprisingly seems to support tagging, but they call it categories(?). It's not obvious at first if you only know traditional categories.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#46

Post by pb7 »

cwhiz wrote: post #17
FrozenSynapse wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Google specifically says in it's Google Play TOS that keywords related to COVID-19 are forbidden, then the decision is correct. Stop hating on Google! Google is one of the few companies that provide quality services for end-users "for free".

Legitimately, are you a paid Google employee?

Unlikely. Google employees are paid too much to care what people on a forum think about the company.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#47

Post by phh »

slightwinder wrote: post #36
sschueller wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone needs to take this to the EU courts and force google (and apple) to allow the use of alternate app stores that are not technically hindered. It was done with Windows and Explorer so I don't see why this is any different.

How are app stores on Android technically hindered? I thought except the additional step for installing them, there is no difference in ability?

A 3rd-party application store can't update apps silently to name one, the user has to approve every app update one by one.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#48

Post by Aeolun »

scarface74 wrote: post #30
zaroth wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That article reads like propaganda for Google Store. > That's because Fortnite isn't available through Google's Play Store. Epic instead chose an unorthodox -- and more dangerous -- route for the game's fans. Rather than download it through the official Google app store, players need to download the game and "sideload" the app on their Android devices instead. That Epic is allowed to do this underscores why Google's…

Those security issues would have been rendered moot by the sandbox if they went through the Play Store. But really? That's the card you're going to play? That "every app has security issues" so this is okay?

Why would they not allow you to sandbox non-play store apps?

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#49

Post by nocturnial »

jestinjoy1 wrote: post #41
nocturnial wrote: post #6

Could you post your back-and-forth with google support? In the worst case, I doubt it will resolve anything but it could give other developers an idea on how or how not to communicate with google. In the best case, you might restore your app on google and have a template for other developers on how to deal with this issue. If you have send a request but didn't get a reply, please post those as well.

They banned my app which gives COVID-19 related information in Sign Language. No reply on my appeal yet.

You need to give me more than this. Like: I filed a complaint at date X, time Y, and wrote . Today is date X1 and I haven't received a reply.

It might not matter for your case, but the next time I'm in a meeting I can use this to say "Hey, maybe it's not smart to go with those services from company Z"

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#50

Post by throwawaysea »

Google (and Facebook and Twitter and Medium....) are turning into absurd comic book level censors. They have too much leverage and influence over society, and moves like this meaningful harm people’s ability to communicate and conduct basic activities. Google is the worst of them, and should be broken up immediately on antitrust grounds. But let’s not ignore that COVID-19 has exposed the hamfisted authoritarian rule of the digital public square by virtually all technology companies.
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