Google shuts Google Play for ad-blockers
05 Feb 2016
Google has responded with blocking access to Google play for ad-blocking mobile apps soon after Samsung introduced support for ad blocking in the new version of its web browser for mobile devices, the Samsung Internet Browser.
Responding to the move, third party developers soon launched ad-blocking mobile apps that worked with the browser. But the developers found that their apps were being pulled out from Google Play, and their updates were being declined.
The reason according to commentators might be that Google frowned on the distribution of ad-blockers as standalone applications on its Google Play store.
Samsung's feature works much on the lines of Apple's support for ad blocking in Safari, which arrived with the release of iOS 9.
Among the first third-party ad-blockers to launch following Samsung's announcement was Adblock Fast, which quickly become the top free app on Google Play in the ''Productivity'' category. It had, however, since been banned from Google Play.
According to commentators, this was not an app that Samsung itself made, rather what Samsung announced was a new API for its own Internet browser app that would allow apps like Adblock Fast, developed by Rocketship Apps, to block apps in that browser and that browser alone. Google apparently had issues even if it only happened with Samsung.
Google pointed to a violation of Section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement, in a letter to developers. Under the section apps that interfere with other apps are prohibited.
Unfortunately for Adblock Fast, that was technically what it did, even if well intentioned or approved by the other app that it affected. In the case, it was modifying web pages but using an API that was provided by Samsung itself.
Commentators have pointed to Google's inconsistent approach to the rules when it came to ad-blockers. The first Adblock Plus Android app was taken down after being served a similar notice. However, Adblock's new app that uses the very same API that Adblock Fast used still remains online.