Cointiply becomes the latest Victim of Google’s Anti-Crypto Bias

4 min readNov 7, 2020

On October 19th, 2020, Google removed the Cointiply app from the Google Play Store following a routine update after being treated unfairly for violation of Google Play store terms and conditions. Cointiply team reacted immediately appealing to Google’s decision and after a long message exchange with the Google’s Appeal Team, Google has failed to provide a reasonable explanation to Cointiply for the app removal or to shed any light on how to correct the problem — if there is a problem at all.

The Cointiply app has been installed and enjoyed by more than 500,000 users in the past 2 years. At the time of removal the app was rated 4.5 stars and had received over 9000 organic user ratings. In fact the Cointiply app compliments the desktop experience by offering more opportunities for users to earn rewards and participate in the Cointiply community on the go.

Cointiply team also informs that the Cointiply app will continue to work for its members who already have the app installed without any problem.

Yet, Cointiply is by no means the first or only victim of Google’s crypto crackdown. The Tech Giant is steadily gaining a reputation for banning apps in the cryptocurrency community, without ever providing a specific explanation and for crypto businesses that run on Google platform, the flippant and dismissive responses from Google’s customer service team are as expected to be devastating and misleading.

MetaMask and Bitcoin Blast are among the most highly profiled cases for being banned without reason or warning, and now Cointiply is joining their ranks. Both MetaMask and Bitcoin Blast were reinstated after outcry and complaints from the crypto community. Cointiply hopes that with the support of crypto community, the Cointiply app will also be reinstated.

In its latest move against bitcoin-related products, Google removed bitcoin rewards game Bitcoin Blast from the Google Play store before reinstating it amid backlash: https://t.co/LZ9mACu8xO by @BillyBambrough pic.twitter.com/jcOaMg8UNY
— Forbes Crypto (@ForbesCrypto) February 3, 2020

According to Google’s initial suspension notification, the Cointiply app was removed over one line of text in the app’s description: “Get paid to install Android Apps.” Google cited the following policy as the reason for removal: User Ratings, Reviews, and Installs — Play Console Help

Identical and similar descriptions can be found on thousands of reward apps in the Google Play store. The reality is that installing apps or games to receive rewards is a large part of the overall Android ecosystem. Cointiply has never intentionally or unintentionally manipulated rankings or reviews of any apps, and, to the best of our knowledge, Cointiply is in complete compliance with Google Play’s policies.

When Cointiply appealed to the Cointiply app suspension and offered to edit this line out of the app’s description, Google also cited an additional policy violation: App Promotion — Play Console Help, which states that “deceptive and harmful” practices are not allowed. After reviewing the rules’ clear examples, it’s obvious that Cointiply is in compliance with both policy descriptions. Google refuses to elaborate on the perceived non-compliance for either policy and, thus far and has furthermore refused to provide specific evidence of Cointiply’s violations. Without being shown what to fix, there is no way for Cointiply to know what to fix in order to avoid violating Google Play’s terms and conditions.

Like thousands of other reward apps, Cointiply curates third-party offers and rewards users in exchange for performing tasks, such as viewing an advertisement or installing a game. Since Cointiply uses many of the same offers as other apps, then it can only be said that all reward apps available in the Google Play store are also in violation. Likewise, many high profile games — that earn Google massive revenue — also offer incentivized installs with the very same third-party offers that Cointiply curates.

One can only assume that Cointiply has been singled out due to its ties with the crypto community.

Google’s monopolistic practices make it mpossible for apps to be successful on any other Android platform. While the company continues to unfairly ban cryptocurrency apps, Cointiply developers are left in the dark trying to solve a problem that doesn’t seem to exist.

Cointiply needs crypto community help to protest against Google’s decision to suspend the Cointiply app from the Google Play store. Cointiply has been always putting platform’s users first, and ultimately, platform’s users and the crypto community are the ones who will suffer from Google’s decision to suspend the Cointiply application and other cryptoapps from the Google Play store. The promotion of blockchain technology to the society won’t be possible with the anti — crypto policy of Google and the suspension of crypto apps such as Cointiply app.

Please share this story, repost it, and retweet at @GooglePlay and @GooglePlayDev.

In the interest of transparency Cointiply has included their full conversation with Google Play’s “appeal” team on their blog https://cointiply.com/blog/cointiply-is-the-most-recent-victim-of-googles-anti-crypto-bias. Contact details have been blurred to maintain privacy.

Cointiply becomes the latest Victim of Google’s Anti-Crypto Bias

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Written by Feax21