Hello,
I have something to say about the Internet giant Google Inc.
Google is disrespecting thousands of developers around the world by its absurd policies and app suspensions, more than 3500 developers have signed this petition. (link at the end of article.)
Google’s motto is “Don’t be Evil”, but their activities
don’t seem to be following this.
Everyone on Internet is saying how big the company is or how
it is making new developments.
Everything is correct but with Google’s monopoly with some
products, it is exploiting its customers and community members.
I have something to say about its Play Store policy and how
it makes sure about its implementation.
Google has its own set of policies that it wants every
developer to follow for publishing apps on [play Store, which is correct. This
is to make sure that no one violates any laws or publishes fake or infected
apps.
But for its implementation Google follows a VERY VERY cruel
method.
In its Play Store policy it has something called as Keyword
Spam violation.
Here is how it is described:
· Do not use
irrelevant, misleading, or excessive keywords in apps descriptions, titles, or
metadata.
· Do not engage in
"keyword stuffing" by loading app descriptions with keywords out of
context.
· Your title and/or
description must not attempt to leverage another popular product without
permission.
· Do not include user
testimonials in your app description. They tend to be dubious and are
frequently utilized to include references to popular search terms and
competitor apps in violation of the policies outlined here. Let your users
speak for themselves via Play's comment review system.
So, now let me get to the point and tell you the story.
Considering open source nature of Android and its ever
increasing popularity I selected to publish a app for android and make a
startup with a app.
So I spend time in making app, designing servers and
infrastructure for it.
After all the hard work I published the app on play store.
In the initial time, it got great response. It catches up
and you get lots of downloads.
You monetize it with ads to support your expenses and make
profits.
Then you start investing in marketing and promotions and
advertise your Google play URL.
After 9 months, you have a successful app with millions of
users and lots of downloads on Play store.
And here comes “EVIL GOOGLE” into picture, one day google
decides to screw up you so badly that it DIRECTLY SUSPENDS YOUR APP from PLAY
STORE with some shitty keyword policy without any warning or specifications of
what was violated in app’s description.
And the most important thing is App’s description was never
changed from months, And suddenly one day Google finds you violating its terms
and DIRECTLY suspends the app.
And they only give you one appeal form where you are
expected to appeal for re-instating your apps. The appeal form tells you that
you will be replied within 72 hours.
So you sit devastated, seeing all your one year’s hard work
float on water with a hope that Google will respond you and give you a chance
to change whatever was wrong with your app’s description.
And then you receive a pre-defined email rejecting your
appeal which I guess is replied by a BOT.
And you keep on replying that mail, but you receive no
response.
And it’s not the END, as stated by google while suspending
your app, you have a chance to publish a “policy complaint” version of the app.
So we did that, and here comes another “unethical” move from so called “Don’t
be Evil” corporation, it rejected and suspended another policy complaint app
also stating that it was “Intellectual property Infringement” or considered
that app (new policy complaint version of app) to be a COPY of an already
published app on play store.
So play store rejected my second app stating it was a COPY
of my own app.
And due to this repeated rejections and suspensions, Google
play suspended the WHOLE PUBLISHER ACCOUNT.
And the worst part is this all things, rejections,
suspensions and appeal mails, everything is handled by a BOT.
So a BOT or a shit piece of code screws you so badly that
all your hard work for past one year is over and you are left with nothing.
Not just that much, after such trauma, you think you still
have a Admob Ads (Google ads) paying you for users that already have the app,
but soon it stops Admob ad serving also.
So in just 4-5 hours your start-up which had 2.5 million
customers or user which were paying you by ads, now still uses your service but
they don’t pay you anything (because ads are also stopped).
And Google hardly reads your appeal mails and replied
predefined lines with a stubborn attitude.
I think, such issues could be fixed if developers were
notified initially and asked to change whatever their mistake was, also google
should point EXACTLY what is wrong in the app or its description so developers
can change that and make it policy complaint.
THERE IS ALWAYS A SECOND CHANCE where things COULD BE FIXED,
rather than being cruel and acting stubborn.
Such kind of USELESS suspensions where things COULD BE FIXED
by just by sending one warning mail, affects someone or some company so badly
that they lose everything and all their hard work is on stake in just few
hours.
For info, when your app is removed or suspended, you can
upload a policy complaint version of the app, to explain this, uploading a new
app doesn’t mean you are safe and back on play store, it means you lose all
your download stats or number of downloads, your play store URL also changes
so, all your advertising and marketing investment also fails in one second
because now that URL points a BLANK GOOGLE PAGE. And you cannot release any
updates for the app to your present app users.
So in short you have to start from one, all you have done is
gone, and GOOGLE tells you to start from scratch.
And again for info, here is the google play policy that does not specify what exactly is expected and more of it is generalized guidelines, so developers are expected to interpret it, and if you make a mistake, they let you carry on and screw you whenever it thinks it wants to.... And their is no SECOND CHANCE OR A EXPLANATION rather than telling yourself, IT WAS A BAD LUCK....
Even apple has its policy, long before google adopted all
this for play store, but apple has its own system, where it rejects the app, it
gives you exact reasons and there are people, assigned on ONE-TO-ONE basis to
handle developers and their queries, apple rejects app more often but you can
again RE-SUBMIT the app after resolving whatever was pointed to you.
And reading all this from one guy about a multimillion dollar
giant corporation which is known for its vastness, intelligence and innovation,
makes you think that am I correct or am I making a valid point.
Well, I am not the only one who is affected.
I can give you links that prove that how this “Don’t be Evil—Google”
has screwed so many developer’s hard work.
Play Store and Android is a great platform, because there
are lots of developers and companies around the world, constantly contributing
into the Android community, if Google cannot RESPECT these developers who make
their platform or product great, it will soon lose its most valuable assets,
that is people’s love and trust.
Also to mention this, Google responds properly to such
issues properly when Big companies are involved and gives them another chance
by Re-instating their app but doesn’t give a damn when small companies or
individual developers are concerned (people who are affected most by such harsh
steps or decisions by Google Play).
This is the link that proves my above point:
I was a big fan of Google, admiring its products and its founder’s
success stories, but such EVIL, UNETHICAL steps made me reconsider my
dedication for Google.
I still have faith that this article reaches people at
Google who have the power to change how Google Play is implementing its
policies, and how a developer is treated.
I am attaching a list of links that prove my point, that “GOOGLE
IS BEING EVIL” at least for this thing.
This article’s author has an open appeal for Google, stating
what I said, and more than 3000 developers has supported this petition.
I hope this article reaches someone at Google and they can
take steps so you don’t spoil any more developer’s hard work, time and life.
