Creator suspects his app’s ad identifier was copied but Google keeping quiet
On the last day of March, DroidScript, a popular Android app for writing JavaScript code, had its Google advertising account suspended and a week later was removed from the Google Play Store for alleged ad fraud. David Hurren, founder of the non-profit DroidScript.org and of SoftCogs Ltd, a UK-based software firm, is baffled by the charge and asked Google to explain how it came to that conclusion and to reconsider its suspension of DroidScript. But his appeals have been answered by form letters and now the app, used by more than 100,000 developers, including students, teachers and professionals, is losing premium subscribers as well as ad revenue with no further explanation from Google. The app had only a single banner, added “reluctantly added to cover our development and hosting costs,” Hurren explained in a DroidScript forum post about the crisis. Denied access to ad revenue and details about the supposed infraction, Hurren set about creating a new version without the AdMob banner ad shortly after the AdMob account suspension, knowing this might also prevent DroidScript users from implementing AdMob in their own apps. But Google, on April 7, suspended the app on Google Play, preventing any new version from being released. Hurren said that means the app loses all the user-ratings, download statistics, and premium subscribers accrued over the past seven years. Another appeal took 12 days to get a response attributed to “Cindy” on the Google Play Team. It advised patience while the inquiry is being investigated. Thrilled to be talking to a presumed person, Hurren pleaded with Cindy to explain what’s going on so any problems with DroidScript can be addressed. “We are a not-for-profit organization and we rely on our AdMob and subscription income to keep the lights on and our servers running,” he wrote in his reply.
