A couple of days ago, Samsung made an announcement about an adblocking API which is supported by its own native browser. Adblock Fast will work alongside the stock browser to block and filter out annoying ads from website. However, Google has since removed the dedicated extension which apparently has violated the Developer Distribution Agreement.
Since Adblock Fast was launched, it had approximately 50,000 downloads and is moving up the ranks. Since it was removed, the developer of Adblock Fast’s company Rocketship Apps has received a letter from Google, citing the violation of Section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement. The section states:
4.4 Prohibited Actions. You agree that you will not engage in any activity with the Store, including the development or distribution of Products, that interferes with, disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator. You may not use customer information obtained from the Store to sell or distribute Products outside of the Store.
In other words, app developers are not allowed to build apps which interfere with other installed apps. This is not the first time Google is pulling the plug on ad-blocking apps. However, Rocketship Apps claims that the removed app extension has not been monitored by Google just yet.
One thing to note is Adblock Fast isn’t the only adblocking app available on the Play Store, hence it is unclear as to why Google has pulleed the plug on them. Nevertheless, the app developers are awaiting some reasoning by Google.
Source: Venture Beat ,The Next Web
