The Faceless Master
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Google Pushes Major Update To Play Developer Content Policy, Kills Notification Bar Ads For Real This Time, And A Lot More
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lots more at the link
Google gets upset when apps use the notification bar for advertisements. And this time, it has explicitly lain the hammer down on such services.
Apps and their ads must not display advertisements through system level notifications on the user’s device, unless the notifications derive from an integral feature provided by the installed app. (e.g., an airline app that notifies users of special deals, or a game that notifies users of in-game promotions).
Boom. Yes, apps still can display promotions or deals that directly lead back to the app displaying them, if they are a part of an integral feature of that app. The airline deal example is pretty much what that means. If it's not explicitly, directly, absolutely something that involves the user doing / buying something in your app that relates to said app, it's not OK. No more notification bar ads, essentially.
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The following clause was added to the impersonation or deceptive behavior section:
Products must not contain false or misleading information in any content, title, icon, description, or screenshots.
Along with the content policy now including developer names and websites, this part of the policy is clearly moving in the same direction: if you pretend to be someone else, you're going to get your app pulled or account suspended. The inclusion of titles, icons, descriptions, and screenshots pretty much covers all the bases here. And, hopefully, this means a tiny little disclaimer in the app description won't provide a way for scumbag ad scammers to skate by the policy anymore.
lots more at the link