Google pulls Samsung's adblock app from Play Store

Samsung brought adblocking to mobile browser this week which promptly caught the ire of Google. Now pulled from the Play Store, the Adblock Fast app -- which used Samsung's custom API -- exceeded 50,000 downloads and appeared in the top charts in its short lifespan.

Fast was developed by Rocketship Apps; one of its staff members Brian Kennish posted this e-mail from Google which was sent to them after the app was pulled without warning:

Hi Developers at Rocketship Apps,

I reviewed Adblock Fast, com.rocketshipapps.adblockfast, and found that it violates section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement. This particular app has been disabled as a policy strike.

Just as a reminder, you've agreed to follow the Google Play Developer Program Policies and additional enforcement could occur if there are further policy issues with your apps.

If you've reviewed the policies and feel this rejection may have been in error, please reach out to our policy support team. One of my colleagues will get back to you within 2 business days.

I appreciate your support of Google Play!

Best,

[Redacted]

Google Play Review Team

Section 4.4 prohibits products that disrupt Android, Google, and mobile network services, among other things. Vague language, to be sure. Adblock Plus was pulled awhile back for the same reasons, but was recently restored, so it's plausible Fast will be at some point, too.