I’m new to Android app development so maybe I got something wrong on this one, but according to what I’ve read in almost any Ad Network’s Terms and Conditions, in the “INDEMNITY” part they want you to be responsible for their Ad Content and “indemnify, defend and hold harmless” Ad Network, should some third party make any claim arising out of Ad content in my app. So, as I understand it, if some of my app users would see banner containing porn/violence/etc. I’m the only one to blame here and I should pay for everything.
Now, obviously I have no control over what ads are displayed in my app other than specifying ad unit type and maybe some user information like age/country/etc., so I strongly disagree with that part of the Terms. At some point I’ve decided to not use ads in my future app because of this, and implement IAP. But then I figured I could just make my own license that the user would need to accept on first app run, and in that license I would state, explicitly or not, that I hold no responsibility over ad content. I haven’t noticed any other app so far doing the same thing so I’m curious how do you protect yourselves from that part of the Ad Network Terms, or do you just hit “I accept” on the Terms page and hope for the best ?
I am yet to hear a case wherein a developer was penalized for a particular kind of ad that was shown in his app. If I am missing something, please do send me more details of such instances. I always thought ad networks, put the indemnity clause to cover server outage and software issues resulting in revenue loss.
If you choose the right partner and set the expectations right before you start off, I dont think you need to be worried about what ads would be shown. Most ad networks can mark your app as family safe, brand safe etc. and serve you only ads which would not come under adult, gambling, arms etc.
Terms and conditions of any services contains crap like this where the service provider makes you agree to many terms that are meant to blame you for anything that can happen. Best thing is just to ignore it unless you you’re a big company. In which case you’ll have your own terms and money to fight back
I understand why it seems that way ;). But I just don’t want to agree to be responsible for someone else’s failures, even if it is not likely to happen. The fact that I accept that at any random time I can become liable for something that is not my fault is disturbing/irritating. I want to keep everything related to my app development “clean”, meaning that I don’t use copyrighted material, pay the income tax and carry responsibility only for my own work and nothing more. I’d call it being fair.
No I don’t have any information regarding this.
Well, I don’t think that, for example, this quote (AppNext T&C, not in Indemnity part though) is about that:
“You will be solely responsible for all, without limitation, Services Ad content, Services Ad information, Services Ad URLs, editorial, text, graphic, audiovisual, and other content and any other information You enter into the Services, whether generated by or for You (“Services Data”).”
It’s not like they will be liable for any inappropriate ads anyway, so they can say anything they want and still be on the safe side. I’d prefer them removing that part from the Terms, rather than assuring me that eveything would be fine ;). But thanks for the note about “family safe” mark, didn’t know about that.
I think there’s some confusion because most of these terms are written for both the publisher and advertiser side. Most platforms allow you to be both. So what they’re saying is that if you create an ad using content you don’t own, that’s your fault and you are solely responsible for any damages. From a publisher standpoint it wouldn’t make sense to hold you responsible, because you have no control over the content.
@Skurry
Well, I too have some doubts about that quote being intended for publisher instead of advertiser. But in T&C it follows right after requirements for the dev to provide correct information for ad requests, so it seems logical to assume that we’re still talking about publisher:
“a) Services Obligations. In order for the Services to work correctly on mobile platforms, You must provide the following information with every ad request: (i) a Unique Device Identifier or other Device ID, (ii) Ad Unit ID, mapped to the correct application that is in use by the end user, (iii) device type, (iv) language, (v) OS version, (vi) SDK version, (vii) device model, (viii) display type and (ix) country. You must also notify appnext when an application is opened by the user. You will be solely responsible for all, without limitation, Services Ad content, Services Ad information, Services Ad URLs, editorial, text, graphic, audiovisual, and other content and any other information You enter into the Services, whether generated by or for You (“Services Data”).”
In either case I think I’ll just stick with my license idea, so as to not rely on the T&C to have actually a sane/fair meaning under those “blame on you” and “we’re not liable for anything” terms.
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