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Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

danfabulich.medium.com

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Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#321

Post by withinboredom »

matsemann wrote: post #304
sva_ wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With the way the system is designed, it's trivial to game the system in such a way that your ad-supported competitors get purged from the play store. Its only a matter of time until people start abusing this heavily, if they don't already do so. But then Google will probably have to do something about it, if it gets out of hand.

It happened with SEO. People found a way to game their rankings by buying backlinks to their pages from spam sites. Google started punishing that behavior, so some have instead started buying backlinks for their competition to de-rank them.

This reminds me of posting a free TV to Craigslist with your bosses phone number right before a stand up…

Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#322

Post by spaniard89277 »

smcl wrote: post #183
skinkestek wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has a lot to lose if nazis ever get back in power: isn't the correct thing to still register their domains and just go to the police with it? Based on my sysadmin background I actively try to know as little about my customers as possible: sure I might become a hero whistleblower but more likely I'll taint myself in various ways.

I think life as a neo-nazi should be as difficult as humanly possible so I'd try find a way to boot them off any service I operate. It's likely many hosting providers etc have a "no illegal stuff or neo-nazi shit" clause in their TOS. A few of these sites have bounced around providers before landing with Epik, so it doesn't seem to be rare or hard to do. It's a choice Epik have made to, if not welcome them then toler…

Problem is that everyone is a nazi nowadays, except the ones calling others nazis.

Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#323

Post by girvo »

sneak wrote: post #293
JulianMorrison wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh hey it's the "you should leave him" guy. As with abusive spouses, there are usually circumstances trapping people there. Not least the unequal power relationship. This is a circumstance where society, in the form of government, needs to weigh in to force tech giants to behave more sanely, because only society as a whole is a bigger fish than Google, Facebook, etc.

No one is forced to do business with Google.

So I’m going to say “yes they absolutely are”

And you’re going to argue with me on the semantic definition of “force”, ignoring the sheer power Google (and a few other tech companies) wield over the technological word, which now encompasses basically all commerce and industry to varying degrees. The smartphone market alone means you’re forced to deal with Google.

Single line pithy comments set up these situations. They’re not good communication really, in my opinion.

Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#324

Post by Zak »

sneak wrote: post #293
JulianMorrison wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh hey it's the "you should leave him" guy. As with abusive spouses, there are usually circumstances trapping people there. Not least the unequal power relationship. This is a circumstance where society, in the form of government, needs to weigh in to force tech giants to behave more sanely, because only society as a whole is a bigger fish than Google, Facebook, etc.

No one is forced to do business with Google.

If you want to sell Android apps, you are. Yes, I know Android allows installs from sources other than Play Store, but if you want to be popular, you have to be in Play Store.

I'm actually surprised/impressed with how successful that strategy has been for Google. I've always considered sideloading and alternate app stores to be an advantage for Android, but Google's store is effectively a monopoly anyway.

Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#327

Post by orhmeh09 »

emmelaich wrote: post #214
malikNF wrote: post #21

How on earth does google manage to still be one of the most valuable (in $$$) companies in the world with this kind of behavior. I just can't imagine treating my customers half as bad as the way google does and still continue to be in business. Abruptly dropping support for products[1], violating their user's privacy [2] , working with organizations accused of human rights violations. Each passing year it seems googl…

Well, their ads service is probably legit as in not corrupted by click-fraud. It's not as if there's no upside. They're not idiots.

How can you be sure about the click fraud issue? Their hands aren’t exactly clean, having paid $90 million in a settlement for click fraud in 2006. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-settles-fraud-case-for-9...

Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#328

Post by sneak »

Zak wrote: post #324
sneak wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is forced to do business with Google.

If you want to sell Android apps, you are. Yes, I know Android allows installs from sources other than Play Store, but if you want to be popular, you have to be in Play Store. I'm actually surprised/impressed with how successful that strategy has been for Google. I've always considered sideloading and alternate app stores to be an advantage for Android, but Google's store is effectively a monopoly anyway.

> If you want to sell Android apps, you are.

No one is forced to sell Android apps, therefore, no one is forced to do business with Google.

Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#329

Post by iagovar »

lbriner wrote: post #274
GuB-42 wrote: post #199

I winder if stories like that will ultimately be Google and other tech giants downfall. The idea is that you can get banned, you will never know why, there is no way to appeal, they won't give you a chance to fix things, and the only contact you will have will be robots, or if you are lucky, people completely dehumanized by the corporate structure. So simply, they are unreliable. Just like files stored in a hard driv…

I guess the $10B question is whether if someone could set up a competing app store that was available on all Android phones and could present some form of assurance that it wasn't full of malware, would Google lose the entire market or do they have special access to Android OS to prevent this happening?

For competing with google one would have to set up companies with proper humans in the loop, and in some neutral and stable jurisdiction. For non-US customers it would be also very helpful to tone down the heavy political patronizing that Silicon Valley/anglosphere has, which is ridiculous sometimes.

Re: Google can ban your Android app if they think you’ve clicked on your own ads

#330

Post by 1MachineElf »

CGamesPlay wrote: post #7

I'd extend this even further: never use a single account for more than one purpose. Create a separate account at the same company for the other purpose. Some examples: - Every product/project you manage should be on a separate account on Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. - Nothing tied to your consumer accounts should be used for anything business related. - Your Amazon shopping account and your AWS account should defin…

Using multiple accounts like this can also assist with implementing separation of duties.
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