I am getting paranoid lately worrying if I’m going to be banned by Google. I’ve already had one of my apps be banned due to spam so now I want to take preventative measures to avoid that it ever happens again.
The first time my app got banned, the reason I was provided was the following:
Violation of the hate speech provision of the Content
Policy.
I appealed and they subsequently gave me the following reasons:
You can learn more about why your app was suspended by reviewing our policy on keyword spam.
I have since picked myself up to try this again and I have released 3 apps of which I am very worried about if it will be banned. My developer account link is here:
I’d appreciate it if someone can take the time to go through my apps and enlighten me of anything that can cause me to get banned again.
The one thing that I am worried about the most is that I am using images that I collected from google images to enhance the UI for one of my apps. I’m not sure if this is allowed.
The images I used from google images are the following:
Actually I know Vine … but I still would name them “videos” and not “vines” … therefore that MAY be called keyword spam … actually - because I am familiar with this - I read it and I know that you try to catch keywords. you are trying to hard
In the end, I’ve seen much worse but I may understand when google counts this as spam, because it is not very helpful to the user.
I would suggest you to just formulate some paragraphs where the keywords are part of a sentence, that way it will much less look like plain keyword spam (which will drive away users anyway)
Not sure, why you have linked those images. Every image is copyrighted (without exception) it depends on the author if he allow the usage in your respective situation. Just getting them from a google search is a breach of copyright, the owner may tell it google and google may ban your acc forever. Just to let you know.
People on this world should really have more knowledge about “intellectual property” and “copyright” before they even think about going into computer business …
Regarding the League of Legends Champion game, the developer used the original game name and game art. He has not run into any issues. I would like to get your thoughts on this one.
It all comes down to policing. Google does not actively check against copyright and IPs, except in some cases where big publishers are being affected.
The owner or representative of the owner of the assets at hand must file DMCAs themselves.
They might not police the app stores very much/very well, or they are just unaware that these violations are taking place.
All it takes is for them to find out and take subsequent action, which as in this case, just hasn’t happened…yet.
Some companies/entities are very active in policing their own materials, like Nintendo and Disney.
Thanks! So I guess the biggest outstanding issue for me is my use of public images. I shall replace them then as soon as I can. What about the use of the term “Vine” and “Vines”? Is that illegal?
The term is probably not TM’d, but Google doesn’t care about that. If they think you are misusing terms in your title of description they will ban the app(s).
Take ‘Flappy Bird’ for example. The developer never TM’d the name and the two words are meaningless and were just used to describe the game as many apps and games do.
The developer removed the game and in came the clones of the game, most using the term “Flappy” in the title. Google banned clones using that term en masse just because they decided it was misuse.
Bottom line, it doesn’t have to be illegal for it to get your app(s) banned in Google’s Eyes.
Thank you so much for the in-depth explanation. Just wanted to confirm one more thing. Using Flappy in the title is TM’d situation but would it be okay if you use it in the app description (for example, This is an alternative app to the famous Flappy Bird Game!)?
I am pretty sure it is not trademarked and even if it would, you can use it as a descriptive(!!!) element in your app description. That means not spamming it, so it is important to know what “descriptive” really means
But there is one simple rule which normally brings you on the save side: “When in doubt: Don’t do it”
Also remember: If you use it or not - it does simply not matter for your app popularity at all. There is one flappy bird clone released every 30 minutes or so, you will hardly get any downloads at all for a flappy bird clone
That was actually one of the reasons why my app got banned. I used flappy bird in the description and it actually worked, it tripled my daily install rate Lol.
I wouldn’t do that. I know people that got clones banned for mentioning it in the description too.
Google is ruthless and will exercise all their power if it threatens their interests. (Too many Flappy Bird/Temple Run/Minecraft clones are bad for their app market image).
The same as 2048. I have no idea why people still making it:/ What do they think? “I will made similiar game to Flappy Bird. It’s gonna be a huge success!!”
Guys, noone cares about 23472893 clone of flappy bird or 2048, stop making this crap. Think logically:/
haa haaa… seriously does copying the description of the flappy bird has boosted your daily install? I didn’t know that but I think I should give it a try. But at the same time I am also afraid because if google has… then the same problem might get on with me !!
