We run dating sites, and the app that was removed from Google Play store is designed and uploaded by ourselves. What this app does is simply providing functionality of our website so our users can do everything on their phones or tablets instead of having to go to our website.
The app has been on Google Play store for a few years and has accumulated tens of thousands of downloads. Nothing seemed wrong until suddenly one day we got a notification letter from Google Play, saying that the app is in violation of the spam provisions of Google Play's Content policy. Google said they'd determined that the main purpose of our app was to drive affiliate traffic to a website. But like I said, this is not true at all. We're not an affiliate of any website. Our website runs totally independently. Besides, inside the app there's no pointing to other websites at all. How can we possibly manage to drive traffic to another site without links?
Shortly after, our developer account got suspended.
I am 100% sure Google Play has made a mistake on this judgement, but they refuse to give us any further details. Hell they wouldn't even tell us where we've done wrong so we can fix it. We wrote appeals, but only got automated replies repeating what they had already said previously. I went checking online and it turned out I wasn't alone. A whopping amount of indie developers has encountered the same issue.
Does anyone know if this type of app is against Google policy? How can I reinstate my account?
How do other dating sites like Match.com, Plenty of Fish, etc, get by with their app?
