So much for the DSA...

[rizbit]

In 2023 Google Play unfairly suspended my app which had previously been fully approved and live for over 4 years, without warning overnight.

Now I had proof to support my reasons against the unfair decision, I presented all of these and appealed and nothing came of it, it was rejected with no further clarification given.

I did log it all but i dont want to go into detail here (if you do want to know, then you can see my log here)

After the appeal was rejected, I was told by them that if I diasgreed I can take the dispute to the CEDR, which was their chosen body for handling online dispute resolution.

Now although the CEDR cant enforce their decision its worth a try, (you know 'better to try and fail' ...)

I sent a request to Google for the CEDR, it took 5 months and several attempts to contact them to get a reply... They rejected my request with no further clarification given.

Now that was the lasts option, however Google Play emailed me saying if I did not like their decision, I could take action under the DSA (Digital Services Act).

Great i contacted the European commission to be told that the DSA could help me however it would be operational until March 2024. So i waited in anticipation.

Come March 2024 I contacted someone in regards to the DSA to see if i can get help with my suspension, only to find out that because I live in the UK the DSA doesnt cover me and even if it did they could not say if they could help or not...

Great so that was pointless...

I then tried to contact solicitors to see if anyone can help, I found a firm however they said they want a 25K downpayment (in case I dont win to cover their fees and time)....

So now I have no option except to accept defeat against injustice and learn a lesson from it. But the only lesson I can think of is dont start a serious app business as a full time job relying on Google because they are impossible to work with, negotiate with, reason with.

Id like to ask if anyone can offer any advice to pursue this quest for reinstating the app.

 

[ctrlbrk]

What were the grounds Google cited for suspending your app?

 

[NickGrogan]

No link to the log.

Is there an iOS version?

Convert it to web app and sell through web rather than app store

 

[fisicx]

Have a read of this:

Google suspended apps without warning or valid reasons

Google suspended one of my android apps which had been previously checked and approved many times. It was on the store for just over 4 years. It had about 12K active users, with 1-2 IAP sales per day. So people WERE using the app as it was intended to be used. Then one day Google decided to...

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

 

[rizbit]

No link to the log.

Is there an iOS version?

Convert it to web app and sell through web rather than app store

Sorry heres the link to the logged case

 

[rizbit]

What were the grounds Google cited for suspending your app?

They claimed the app did not function as described and that it was 'functionally impossible'.

However they fully approved the app on first submission (which always is the most thorough approval) and approved all subsequent updates (minor and major). No changes were made to the app after the last update approval which was several months before the suspension.

The problem with their reason is also that I have video showing that the app works as described and hundreds of user reviews also support the same.

Is there any UK equivalent to the Digital Services Act?

 

[fisicx]

I'm not really sure what you are hoping to achieve. Google is the end arbiter of what apps they allow in their store. You like thousands of others have been dropped. All the appeals in the world aren't going to get the ban rescinded.

And while they aren't ever going to say it in pubic, the primary reason for the ban is because it can be used for weighing drugs. Anyone else needing a to weigh 3 grams for whatever reason will not be relying on an estimator.

 

[NickGrogan]

Ok, seems pretty obvious why they binned it and won't be taking it back.

 

[rizbit]

Part of that is right but they have specific policies against things like promoting drugs, harmful activities etc... those have clear policy numbers, so there is no reason why they would not specify those as the policy breaches if indeed what you say is true.

Ok, seems pretty obvious why they binned it and won't be taking it back.

Is it? can you share the obvious reason please

 

[NickGrogan]

Is it? can you share the obvious reason please

the primary reason for the ban is because it can be used for weighing drugs. Anyone else needing a to weigh 3 grams for whatever reason will not be relying on an estimator.

Its the same reason you haven't made an Apple Version.

Also, you can get a figure, but it's not accurate, it might not be a problem for your target market, but it is a problem for Google.

 

[rizbit]

Its the same reason you haven't made an Apple Version.

Also, you can get a figure, but it's not accurate, it might not be a problem for your target market, but it is a problem for Google.

in my videos i have shown it can be pretty accurate. No scale i have ever had has been that accurate. I stand on the bathroom scales, the reading can vary each time. I have kitchen scales lot of the time if you place the same object on it the reading can vary esp if weighing in milligrams.

But again thats not the reason they gave. the reason they gave was that it doesnt work and is functionally impossible and yet their own AI and all other AI have agreed with me that the app works using accepted scientific principles.... placing any object on a balance surface will cause it to tilt in one direction, that displacement can be measured using a phones tilt sensors, so what they are claiming goes against their own AI and that of scientists.

Anyone know any no win no fee solicitors who can take up this case

 

[fisicx]

If you need to weigh in milligrams there are specialist scales you can buy. Kitchen scales aren’t usually designed to weigh in very small quantities. Even 0.01g is quite specialised.

You aren’t going to win this one.

As an aside, what things do you use the app to weigh? Especially in milligrams.

 

[rizbit]

The app really weighs more on the grams level... hence the name "3 grams"

It’s a tool available to anyone who needs it. If it gets misused by, say, drug users, that's not my responsibility—that's the police's job. I didn’t create it for drug users. Besides, if someone uses it to weigh weed in a place where weed is legal, what’s the problem?

Any app can be abused by criminals. A gangster could use Google Maps to find a victim’s house, or a drug user could arrange a meetup with their supplier on WhatsApp. That’s not a reason to take those apps down.

Regarding the necessity and availability of such tools, consider that there are hundreds of prank apps on the store with no real value. For instance, an app claiming to be a "Real Ghost Detector"—you can’t prove ghosts are real, so how can a ghost detector be real? How does Google allow such an app? Even if labeled as a prank, Google’s policies clearly state they don’t allow prank apps. Yet, hundreds of these are permitted. It seems a bit targeted to single out my app.

 

[NickGrogan]

The app really weighs more on the grams level... hence the name "3 grams"

It’s a tool available to anyone who needs it. If it gets misused by, say, drug users, that's not my responsibility—that's the police's job. I didn’t create it for drug users. Besides, if someone uses it to weigh weed in a place where weed is legal, what’s the problem?

Any app can be abused by criminals. A gangster could use Google Maps to find a victim’s house, or a drug user could arrange a meetup with their supplier on WhatsApp. That’s not a reason to take those apps down.

Regarding the necessity and availability of such tools, consider that there are hundreds of prank apps on the store with no real value. For instance, an app claiming to be a "Real Ghost Detector"—you can’t prove ghosts are real, so how can a ghost detector be real? How does Google allow such an app? Even if labeled as a prank, Google’s policies clearly state they don’t allow prank apps. Yet, hundreds of these are permitted. It seems a bit targeted to single out my app.

You can force Google to sell an app, however good and honest it is, that's not how business works.

Google don't want it, move on.

 

[Craiglincs]

In 2023 Google Play unfairly suspended my app which had previously been fully approved and live for over 4 years, without warning overnight.

Now I had proof to support my reasons against the unfair decision, I presented all of these and appealed and nothing came of it, it was rejected with no further clarification given.

I did log it all but i dont want to go into detail here (if you do want to know, then you can see my log here)

After the appeal was rejected, I was told by them that if I diasgreed I can take the dispute to the CEDR, which was their chosen body for handling online dispute resolution.

Now although the CEDR cant enforce their decision its worth a try, (you know 'better to try and fail' ...)

I sent a request to Google for the CEDR, it took 5 months and several attempts to contact them to get a reply... They rejected my request with no further clarification given.

Now that was the lasts option, however Google Play emailed me saying if I did not like their decision, I could take action under the DSA (Digital Services Act).

Great i contacted the European commission to be told that the DSA could help me however it would be operational until March 2024. So i waited in anticipation.

Come March 2024 I contacted someone in regards to the DSA to see if i can get help with my suspension, only to find out that because I live in the UK the DSA doesnt cover me and even if it did they could not say if they could help or not...

Why would you think an EU law could help you after Brexit?

 

[IanSuth]

Why would you think an EU law could help you after Brexit?

Maybe because a lot of them were carried over into UK law until we get around to coming up with something better as otherwise there would be huge areas without any laws (as the Eu ones had superseded our pre EEC versions)

EU legislation and UK law

www.legislation.gov.uk

EU legislation as it applied to the UK on 31 December 2020 became part of UK domestic legislation under the control of the UK's Parliaments and Assemblies, and is published on legislation.gov.uk. It is being kept up to date on legislation.gov.uk in the same way as other forms of domestic legislation.

 

[Craiglincs]

Maybe because a lot of them were carried over into UK law until we get around to coming up with something better as otherwise there would be huge areas without any laws

EU legislation as it applied to the UK on 31 December 2020 became part of UK domestic legislation under the control of the UK's Parliaments and Assemblies, and is published on legislation.gov.uk. It is being kept up to date on legislation.gov.uk in the same way as other forms of domestic legislation.

Oh I thought we had the EU law bonfire already. Guess it was the Mandela effect.

 

[David Griffiths]

Oh I thought we had the EU law bonfire already. Guess it was the Mandela effect.

The OP says that the DSA didn't come into force until March 2024, so presumably we couldn't set fire to something that didn't exist at the time.

 

[IanSuth]

Oh I thought we had the EU law bonfire already. Guess it was the Mandela effect.

They rowed back on the bonfire when it was pointed out that in the absence of replacements it would leave many areas of life with no regulations or at least no laws backing up those regs so nobody could be prosecuted for breaking them.

They just did it quietly so nobody noticed - most of the other ones they just got a crayon and scribbled out the word EU but left them the same

 

[ethical PR]

The app really weighs more on the grams level... hence the name "3 grams"

It’s a tool available to anyone who needs it. If it gets misused by, say, drug users, that's not my responsibility—that's the police's job. I didn’t create it for drug users. Besides, if someone uses it to weigh weed in a place where weed is legal, what’s the problem?

Any app can be abused by criminals. A gangster could use Google Maps to find a victim’s house, or a drug user could arrange a meetup with their supplier on WhatsApp. That’s not a reason to take those apps down.

Regarding the necessity and availability of such tools, consider that there are hundreds of prank apps on the store with no real value. For instance, an app claiming to be a "Real Ghost Detector"—you can’t prove ghosts are real, so how can a ghost detector be real? How does Google allow such an app? Even if labeled as a prank, Google’s policies clearly state they don’t allow prank apps. Yet, hundreds of these are permitted. It seems a bit targeted to single out my app.

So who did you create the app for what sort of uses does it have apart from weighing drugs?

 

[Fagin2021]

The app really weighs more on the grams level... hence the name "3 grams"

It’s a tool available to anyone who needs it. If it gets misused by, say, drug users, that's not my responsibility—that's the police's job. I didn’t create it for drug users. Besides, if someone uses it to weigh weed in a place where weed is legal, what’s the problem?

"The rockets are up! Who cares where they come down? That's not my department" said Wernher von Braun.

 

[Craiglincs]

"The rockets are up! Who cares where they come down? That's not my department" said Wernher von Braun.

I like that song.