I have made an app for the Danish Cat Protection Society that is currently only in internal testing.
The app is used for:
- Keeping a record of your cats including age, picture, chip number and the vet's phone number etc
- Finding the nearest vet
- Adoption of cats
- Information on how to deal with emergencies such as finding a wounded cat
- Showing news and magazines
Then a week ago I got an email from Google saying that the app was suspended and removed due to violating their policies. Especially:
I used their appeal form and kindly explained what the app did and that I believed that it was flagged because of a mistake. Because there was no references to aforementioned kind of events.
Yesterday I got a reply from Jessica:
So it was because of referring to COVID-19! But here comes the extremely stupid part:
The only reference to COVID-19 is in a webview showing news and practical information from the website. It only tells that the office is closed due to the pandemic and that the planned general meeting is canceled for the same reason.
Here is a translated version of the news page.
So I wrote back to Jessica with two questions:
What I got back today was a (probably) canned response saying:
So much for Google's AI. It is clearly not AI flagging the app, it is simple keyword searches.
Have you experienced the same kind of silliness from Google?
And what to do? Do you think it would be ok just to open the news page externally in a browser or would that also count as mentioning COVID-19?
The app is used for:
- Keeping a record of your cats including age, picture, chip number and the vet's phone number etc
- Finding the nearest vet
- Adoption of cats
- Information on how to deal with emergencies such as finding a wounded cat
- Showing news and magazines
Then a week ago I got an email from Google saying that the app was suspended and removed due to violating their policies. Especially:
About the Sensitive Events policy
We don't allow apps that lack reasonable sensitivity towards or capitalize on a natural disaster, atrocity, conflict, death, or other tragic event.
I used their appeal form and kindly explained what the app did and that I believed that it was flagged because of a mistake. Because there was no references to aforementioned kind of events.
Yesterday I got a reply from Jessica:
For example, your app currently contains references to the recent sensitive event (e.g. COVID-19). Please review the entirety of your app to remove all mentions to COVID-19 synonyms (including in app, all text in the description and text within screenshots).
So it was because of referring to COVID-19! But here comes the extremely stupid part:
The only reference to COVID-19 is in a webview showing news and practical information from the website. It only tells that the office is closed due to the pandemic and that the planned general meeting is canceled for the same reason.
Here is a translated version of the news page.
So I wrote back to Jessica with two questions:
- Is such use really a problem? We would think that it is important for the members to know that the office is closed and that there is no general meeting.
- If it is indeed a problem, would it be OK to link to the news page externally instead of opening it in a webview?
What I got back today was a (probably) canned response saying:
Unfortunately I'm not able to comment on your planned implementation. If you think your app is in compliance, please make appropriate changes to your app and submit it for another review.
Kindly note we are currently only approving apps that reference COVID-19 or related terms in their store listing if the app is published, commissioned, or authorized by an official government entity or public health organization. You may want to review the entirety of your app to remove all mentions to COVID-19 synonyms (including in app, all text in the description and text within screenshots).
So much for Google's AI. It is clearly not AI flagging the app, it is simple keyword searches.
Have you experienced the same kind of silliness from Google?
And what to do? Do you think it would be ok just to open the news page externally in a browser or would that also count as mentioning COVID-19?