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JOE DAVIS: Welcome to Google Play Policy Bytes.
I'm Joe Davis, the outreach and policy education lead
for Google Play.
Thanks for tuning in today.
I hope you are staying safe and healthy in this world.
We're covering a lot of topics in this update.
So pop some popcorn.
First, we've updated our policy enforcement practices
from extending grace periods for new apps
and specific enforcement dates being named,
but also additional information in our emails to you
about how to correct policy violations.
We also migrated our policy center to a new platform hosted
within the Play Console Help Center.
While doing this, we also took an opportunity
to streamline and simplify a lot of our policy language
to be clearer, including dozens of screenshots
to help you better understand what does and does not
comply with our policies.
We'll then jump into our July 2020 policy updates,
and end with a preview into some of
the new policy-centric features in Google Play Console beta.
We migrated our policy center to a new Help
Center Platform hosted within the Play Console Help Center.
While doing this, we took an opportunity
to streamline and simplify our policy language
to be clearer, as well as included dozens
of more screenshots of compliant and non-compliant examples
to accomplish the policy language.
You can still find the landing page at play.google.com/policy.
And it will redirect to the updated pages.
You'll see that we announced policy updates on this date
in July.
These updates are announced on our new policy center
in an updates preview page.
Then the policy center will be fully refreshed
on this date in August.
A change in our process moving forward for all future policy
updates is that new apps and games,
along with existing apps currently on Google Play,
will have 30 days from the issuance of the policy update
notification to bring their apps into compliance.
We will include the specific enforcement day in our policy
update emails and communications and Policy Center Updates page.
We also recognize some larger policy updates take longer
to implement.
And we may give developers longer grace periods
for certain updates.
Any policy updates with updates that
have longer than the named enforcement start date
will be called out specifically.
Based on your feedback, we enhance the majority
of our policy enforcement emails with more details
about the policy violation we found specifically in your app.
This may include a unique screenshot from your
in app experience or text excerpt from your store listing
where we found the violation and/or additional statements
about its violating behavior to support
the specific enforcement action taken, along with the guidance
to correct the issue.
Now let's jump into what changed this policy update.
We'll share new requirements about apps
that select the news app category in their store
listing.
Then, we'll review a new requirement
that covers AR location anchoring
and its associated user-generated content policy
updates.
We'll review some updates to our monetization and ads policy
category, as well as permissions updates
to apps regarding all files access permission requests.
Finally, we we'll talk through a new policy category
called MUwS, or Mobile Unwanted Software.
There is a new requirement for apps
that select the News category in their Google Play Store
listing.
News apps must provide adequate information about the news
publisher and its contributors, including clear ownership
and have a website that provides valid contact information
for the news publisher.
News apps must not contain significant spelling
and grammar errors.
Only static content have affiliate marketing or ad
revenue as its primary purpose.
Apps that select News category but exhibit content
that does not meet these requirements
are not permitted in the news category of the Play Store.
News apps that require the user to purchase a membership
must provide a content preview for users prior to purchase.
News aggregator apps must be transparent
about the publishing source of the content in their app.
And each of the sources must meet the news policy
requirement.
In this app example, you'll see a news app that
selects the News category, but it
contains significant spelling and grammar errors.
It also has scattered affiliate marketing and ad
revenue that could be viewed as the app's primary purpose.
Now we can't just tell from this screenshot,
but it also doesn't appear to have adequate information
about the news publisher and its contributors,
including clear ownership or a website that
provides valid contact information for the news
publisher.
In the case of augmented reality, or AR apps,
moderation of user-generated content,
including the in-app reporting system,
must account for both objectionable AR
user-generated content, like a sexually explicit AR
image, and sensitive AR anchoring
location, like AR content anchored to a restricted area,
such as a military base or private property where
AR anchoring may cause issues for the property owner.
Here is a fictitious example of an AR game
to illustrate an AR content anchored in an unfortunate
location.
The game tells the user to catch the dog for 100 coins,
but it's anchored in a sensitive location-- in this instance,
a military base.
If I were you, I'd stay far away from that dog.
Developers must implement an in-app reporting system
that will allow users to report such sensitive locations
and moderate the platform to avoid these circumstances.
Let's now look at the acceptable functionality
for your user-generated moderation system,
including the in-app reporting system.
Notice on the screenshot to your left
it covers both how to report sexually explicit images
and also how to report content anchored
in sensitive locations.
This is a specific way to report this information,
and its preferred.
But as seen on the screenshot on the right,
the reporting tool can be specific or non-specific
to reporting in sensitive locations,
as long as it allows the user to conduct
in-app reporting for objectionable content
or location anchors.
We've updated the language of our family ads
policy within our monetization and ads category of policies.
If your app targets both children and older audiences,
you may still participate in the Design for Families program.
All apps that opt into the Design for Families program
will be eligible to be rated for our new teacher-approved
program.
However, we cannot guarantee that your app will be included
in this teacher-approved program.
We've also updated clarifying language to our prohibited
and allowed ad behavior.
First, ads that interfere with normal app use or game
play that are not closeable after five seconds
is prohibited.
However, ads that do not interfere with normal app
or game play may persist for more than five seconds,
but must still have a timer if it's longer than five seconds.
This is commonly found as ad content integrated
inside video content.
Let's take a look at this example.
As you can see here, here's an ad
that interferes with normal app use or game play that is not
closeable after five seconds.
As the user plays the game, an ad
interferes with their experience,
and it's not closeable after five seconds.
This is prohibited.
We're introducing a policy around all files access
permission.
Files and directory attributes on a user's device
are regarded as personal and sensitive user
data, subject to our personal and sensitive information
policy.
App should only request access to device storage, which
is critical for the app to function,
and may not request access to device storage
on behalf of any third party for any purpose that
is unrelated to the critical user facing app functionality.
Android devices running Android 11
target API level 30 will require the manage external storage
permission in order to manage access to shared storage.
Due to impacts from the current world context,
including operational constraints,
apps that target Android 11, API level 30, and request
broad access to shared storage or all files access,
will be blocked in the Play Console.
This means that the declaration process will be temporarily
postponed until this date, and does not
affect apps targeting Android 11 API 30 that
don't require all files access.
For more information on the Android 11 requirements
and general guidance, please visit the Play Academy
and review our storage best practices for Android 11.
Mobile unwanted software, or MUwS,
creates a very poor user experience
and mechanisms to enable malware and other malicious behaviors.
MUwS applies across our Android ecosystem.
And the new policy is developed to expand
on the existing Google unwanted software policy
by applying it to the mobile environment.
The MUwS policy communicates Android guiding principles
for unwanted behavior.
In an effort to preserve clarity around enforcement,
some related existing policies remain
grouped by their subject, like user data and permissions
will remain under the Privacy and Device Abuse category.
We've made some policy and compliance related enhancements
to the new Google Play Console in beta right now.
Soon, Play Console beta includes a inbox feature,
which will distribute all pertinent policy updates.
At the app dashboard level, it also
includes a policy and compliance section, policy status displays
the current status or review results for your app.
It's designed to make it easier for you to provide
all the information Google Play needs
to confirm that your apps are compliant with our policies.
We know this can be a source of worry.
So we've designed these new sections
to help guide you through this process.
And they will continue to be enhanced over time.
Try out these new policy-centric features on the Google Play
Console by joining the beta.
Visit play.google.com/console to sign up.
As we wrap, let's recap our enforcement times
for the July policy update.
On July 8, our policy changes are announced.
Apps using all files access permissions
targeting Android 11 API level 30 will not be allowed.
In August, the policy seen here will be enforced.
Then, next year, declaration forms for all
files access permissions will be accepted.
Make sure to visit our new Play Developer Policy
Center in the Google Play Academy's policy
curriculum, which now features several introductory policy
videos.
Also, subscribe to the Android developers' YouTube channel.
And make sure your email is up to date in the Play Console.
We hope these materials help you better understand our policies,
and that these broad policy-related feature
enhancements help you better navigate our process.
We appreciate your help ensuring Google Play remains
a safe, trusted source for apps and games.
So until next time, stay safe and healthy out there.
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