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androidgoogle-playapkpolicy

Apk suspended violation of impersonation policy while publishing on Google Playstore

I am publishing an apk on Google Play Store. But my apk is rejected because they say my app is violating Google Impersonation Policy. But they never mentioned what is the reason. I am publishing it to production. Then I found possible violations after I have read the policy.

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As you can see in the screenshots, I am using logos of Whatsapp, Facebook, Viber for social sharing purpose. I am also using Football Team and League Logos. According to the impersonation policy, that can be the only possible reason why my app is suspended. But I think that logos should be allowed to use. In the policy, it states that if I am using logo or copyright thing of others, I can use them if I can show them the permission.

For Facebook logo, Viber logo and Whatsapp Logo, where can I get that permission? Besides, it is not possible to get permission from all football teams to use their logos. Then I found this link - How to check an app violates Google's the impersonation policy or not. In the green answer, it says if I tried publishing as Alpha testing, I will get the reason of suspended. So when I tried with Alpha testing on Google Play Store, it also suspended. But it does not mention the reason of suspended as well. Here is the email I received:

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What is the possible reason my app was suspended? Maybe because of the reason I mentioned? If they are, how can I solve it?

Solution

  • To get the Q & A into an usable answer:

    Photo's and logo's have copyrights on them. As a programmer that means you cannot use them without (explicit) permission from the owner. Country flags do not fall under that. Google checks for this before release.

    Note:

    • If you contact the owner of an image and ask for permission use, they might ask for a usage fee.

    • If you use images that you get from an API, check the user agreement. If not clear contact the creator of the API.

    • Social sharing logo's and button will have details on this, but in general it makes very little sense for them to limit their use.

    Why go trough all this trouble?

    • Pay people for their work, don't steal.

    • You can get sued if you use images without permission.