The main idea of ​​the article is to gather in one place as much as possible real use cases of application blocking and developer accounts. For each case, analyze in detail the causes and consequences.

The topic is very serious. If Google blocks you once - there will be no way back. Apparently, the relationship of the account with your name, IP, Mac-address and other personal data is tracked. Ruin a relationship with Google once - then never wash it .
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In order not to lose the account registered personally for you - you need to follow certain principles. Let's try to get them out together.

I will say right away - my account and applications haven’t been blocked yet. But, after reading articles about blocking other users, I began to fear. Ask questions on the forums. And the fears were not in vain.

If you or your friends had cases of blocking applications \ accounts - you can describe them in the comments or a personal message - I’ll be happy to add them to the list. The more cases - the more useful the article. And try to specify as much information as possible, links and screenshots.

Cases

Tetris

Essence: The developer created a small game, in the title of which he used the word Tetris. This word is a registered trademark for the use of which you need to pay. In principle, this is logical, since quite a few users slaughter the word "tetris" in Google, and the application immediately receives many visits and installations. Application blocked.
Blocked reason: Copyright violation (using the word Tetris)
Proof: http://javatalks.ru/topics/42335
Outcome: Safe. The developer has reloaded the same application with a different name . The account remained intact, the application is still working.

Guess anime

Essence: The developer wrote an application in which there are pictures of characters for which he does not have copyright. Application blocked.
Reason for blocking: Infringement of copyright (Use of pictures from anime)
Proof: http://toster.ru/q/101383 (response from danil031997)
Result: I had to register a new bank card, a new account, etc. The user has decided not to upload any old projects anywhere else.

Black seo

Essence: On some account contained about 20 applications (the total number of downloads ~ 500k). They were crammed with unevenly distributed keywords. After ~ 7 warnings from Google, the developer account was banned.
Reason for blocking: Search spam
Proof: http://toster.ru/q/55160
Bottom line: The new account was registered, but it was banned due to the loading of old applications into it.

Erotic content

Essence: The developer has created a media player for Android. Everything is good, but here among its screenshots on githabe was erotic content . At the time of the publication of that article, he really was there, I checked. Application blocked.
Reason for blocking: Erotic content.
Proof: http://habrahabr.ru/company/freeamp/blog/230293
Bottom line: Do not associate your application with erotic content. Carefully monitor every picture you upload anywhere on the Internet. Especially on the githab.

Lifelong ban

The bottom line: Developer - a US citizen, lives in San Francisco. Judging by his post, he switched from iOS to android, invested quite a lot of money in the latter, and then created a series of innocuous applications for his son. These apps captured some YouTube channel, allowing you to watch only his video. The titles of the applications contained the names of the channels, some of which were quite popular. A total of 10 such applications were created. Two of them blocked.
Reason for blocking: Search spam
Proof: https://medium.com/@sgehrman/banned-for-life-c62f2404f66
Bottom line: After blocking, the user tried to write in support, but in return his account was banned for life. Please note - he is a US citizen. I initially thought that on the Google Play so strictly only ours were banned. It turned out that justice does exist.

Flappy flapper

The bottom line: The developer made a flappy bird clone and named it Flappy Flapper. It appeared in the store, but then it was moved to a hanging state. And after trying to reload the same application under a different name, both were blocked.
Reason for blocking: Search spam
Proof: http://habrahabr.ru/post/231009/#comment_7813421
Outcome: Safe. Developer account is not deleted.

Cheating clicks in ad-sense

The bottom line: The developer twisted clicks. The system was able to determine this and blocked the account on Ad-Sense.
The reason for blocking: Cheat
Proof: http://habrahabr.ru/post/231009/#comment_7813399

Call spy

The bottom line: The developer wrote an application that recorded telephone conversations. The first version was invisible in the process. Banned. The second version already had a permanent icon in the notification area. In addition, the application did not require the Internet and was free, had about 700K installations and a rating of 4.5+.
Reason for blocking: Spyware
Proof: http://habrahabr.ru/post/231009/#comment_7813583
Bottom line: The account was closed forever for distributing spyware. The appeal was unsuccessful. And I must admit - applications containing spy in the title - is complete. Including for recording conversations.

Keywords in description

The bottom line: The developer, seeing in the foreign application a clearly added list of keywords in the description, decided to do the same for his application. Immediately received a warning about spam and 7 days for correction.
Reason for blocking: Search spam
Proof: http://habrahabr.ru/post/231009/#comment_7813751
Bottom line: Removed keywords. Everything worked out. By the way, the support did not answer the question why other applications are not banned, and specifically it was banned.

Movies online. Premieres

The bottom line: Developers have created an application for watching movies online and posted on Google Play. There he was repeatedly banned and it came to an automatic ban.
Reason for blocking: Infringement of copyright (pirated content - takes films from the VKontakte group)
Proof: http://w3bsit3-dns.com.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=533636&st=240#entry32678043
Bottom line: The application is not published, despite the fact that every time a new developer, a new map, VPN. New logo, name, screenshots, description, apk package change, obfuscation. They expressed the idea to add the ability for the user to choose the source of the content himself, not to embed it in the application. The idea is good by the way, but so far the developers have not applied it.

Adding to the application a list of innovations

Essence: The developer (Android and iOS) created some social application for the Russian government in one of the areas, and for two platforms. Topics of the application: inform the authorities about the problem (housing and communal services, health, roads, etc.). Then the developer updated the application. A special text has been added to the field for entering innovations with a description of the changes. A warning appeared, the developer fixed everything. But after a 7-day warning on Google Play, the application was deleted, while on the AppStore this was normal.
Reason for blocking: keyword stuffing
Proof: I can not provide (personal letter from maxtreamal@gmail.com ).
Summary: The letters with the request to explain the reason for the ban were answered that the reason is final and not subject to appeal. They also said that when re-accessing will delete the entire account. In this case, it is very critical, as it belongs to the government and contains some more social applications from other developers. Had to perezalit with another package name. An average score of 4.7 points was lost, about 700 users and about 50 reviews. Apparently, the list of changes was too big. It says that the description should be short and clear. Apparently this also applies to changes.

Google Play Algorithm

There are two types of moderation - manual and automatic. Apparently, if there are no popular keywords in the title and description of the application, it is automatically moderated. So it was with my applications - they appeared 2-3 hours after downloading the APK.

If the application did not pass the automatic moderation, you can wait for several days manually.

And there is such a situation - when the application is paused, removed from the store, but the developer console is OK. Apparently he hung up until the moderators do not come to work. If you have met with such a situation - some developers recommend deleting all information about the application as soon as possible.

Rules and Tips

• Be careful when contacting Google tech support. Instead of unlocking the application, they can block a whole account because of a single letter.
• Do not try to perezalit application under a different name.
• If you have similar applications (similar to the one you blocked), remove them immediately, even if they cost you a lot of work or money. You will save your invaluable account, the loss of which is incorrigible.
• Use only content that you own the copyright. Do not use other people's pictures, videos or sounds, even if your application will contribute to the development of the author of this content.
• Be especially attentive to the title of your application. Out of harm's way - do not add the names of companies or any popular products.
• Neat with tags. In general, you can summarize a lot of the above so: do not try to cheat the application through Google search . If you specify popular keywords in the title, tags or anywhere, many people will find your application, but Google will not like it.
• For your personal projects, find an alternative to Google play. There are plenty of them . There you are unlikely to be banned. And at the worst - no one bothers you to place the APK on your personal website or blog.
• In the comments expressed a very interesting idea. If you are completely unfairly blocked (and this happens) - you can try to write an article about this on Habré, as well as in matters of Google Groups. There is a chance that you will write in HP and solve the problem.
• Be brief! If you have too many words in the description of the application (or in the description of the update) in principle (although not the key ones), you may be banned
• In addition to the general rules for applications, there are even more specific recommendations https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/113474?hl=ru , and in Russian and in beautiful form, with examples.

Total

I do not understand why such severity. The fact that over the past couple of years on the plei has put things in order and tightened the rules is good. But for life, banning developer accounts in just a few innocuous applications, and without trial, is nonsense. Developers are collecting a petition , trying to change the attitude of Google.

Who bans? Apparently, any left desktop can rattle on your application if something is wrong there. And also a robot can ban or a moderator (when the application is first loaded). The application is blocked without warning and without the possibility of recovery .

Hope this article helps you. The joke “Are you banned from Google?” Is becoming a harsh reality for some android developers. This is sad.