Developers of ad-blocking apps have reported that Google has started the process of yanking their apps from the Play Store. Apps like AdBlock, AdAway, AdFree and more are popular with users who want to eliminate ads from appearing in apps. The inclusion of ads is a way for developers to offer “free” versions of apps and still generate some revenue. Of course, Google itself uses a business model based on ad revenue from sources like AdSense. The notification being sent to developers of these apps reads:
This is a notification that your application, [REDACTED], has been removed from the Google Play Store.
REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement.
After a regular review we have determined that your app interferes with or accesses another service or product in an unauthorized manner. This violates the provision of your agreement with Google referred to above.
All violations are tracked. Serious or repeated violations of any nature will result in the termination of your developer account, and investigation and possible termination of related Google accounts. If your account is terminated, payments will cease and Google may recover the proceeds of any past sales and/or the cost of any associated fees (such as chargebacks and transaction fees) from you.
If your developer account is still in good standing, you may revise and upload a new instance of the application that is compliant with the developer terms. Before uploading any new applications, please review the Developer Distribution Agreement and Content Policy.
If you feel we have made this determination in error, you can visit this Google Play Help Center article for additional information regarding this removal.
The Google Play Team
The referenced section of the Developer Distribution Agreement, section 4.4 says:
You agree that you will not engage in any activity with the Market, including the development or distribution of Products, that interferes with, disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator. You may not use customer information obtained from the Market to sell or distribute Products outside of the Market.
If you are interested in installing ad blocking software, all is not lost though. You can try to find the apps on other stores and install them from there. The developers may make versions available for side loading, so that would be another option.
source: Phandroid
Good, developers who post free apps doserve to make some money.
About time.
Good riddance. The people who are determined to block ads will find the apps anyway, and they will stay out of the hands of general users, which is good.
These apps are bad for the growth of Android.
The apps are not bad for the growth of Android, most of them require the devices to be rooted. Adblock just blocks ads if you’re on WiFi and mostly web based ads on websites through the browser. Like the annoying ones on this site. I would rather see Developers offer paid versions of their apps along with their free versions. This way if I like it, I’ll buy it and NOT have the ads. You forget the opposite side of this is consumers rights to not have ads interfere with their use of their devices and apps on it. While some have minimalistic ad presence, there have been some that use PUSH Ads that should not be allowed but do get in.
You don’t want Developers getting away with too much, because then it’s no longer about quality of development, it’s about how much crap we can shove out with ads strung all through it so we can make the most money off of fools who will download and install just about anything!