Google Inc. Android application () from the Google Play catalog due to a violation of payment processing rules. WireGuard is an open application that is distributed for free and does not participate in monetization through advertising. The violation was due to the presence of a link in the settings section titled 'Donate to the WireGuard Project', leading to the donation page for the project's development ().
The attempt to contest the removal was unsuccessful and the appeal was rejected (judging by the response time, it was generated by a bot, just like in a recent involving the removal of uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Store). After this, the developer the donation link and resubmitted the application to the catalog. Currently, the application is in the review queue, during which time it is unavailable on Google Play. As a workaround, the application can be installed from the catalog. .
At first, it seemed that the removal of WireGuard was an isolated misunderstanding caused by a false positive from the automated review system in Google Play. However, it turned out that a similar problem occurred last week with the developers of the open application (an application for two-factor authentication using one-time passwords). This app was also removed from Google Play, again for having a link to a donation page.
Since the notice of violation contains only general information, the developers presumed that the violation was due to the fact that donations were not processed through the Google's In-App payment mechanism, as mandated by the payment processing rules for applications. Moreover, in , collecting donations through In-app Billing is stated as a method of monetization not yet supported. Additionally, in the payment methods, donations are marked as unacceptable if collected by an organization not specifically registered as a non-profit.
Like WireGuard, the application andOTP, despite being removed 6 days ago, is still on Google Play, but it can be installed through the catalog. The WireGuard application had over 50 thousand installations on Google Play, while andOTP had over 10 thousand.
Source: opennet.ru
