We have recently been made aware of some changes to Google’s Developer Distribution Agreement that will affect our Unity Ads publishers.
The changes affect all games that collect the Google Advertiser ID (GAID) for showing ads to users. This means that our publishers who haven’t recently updated their privacy policy (since the introduction of new GDPR laws), in both the Google Play Console and their applications, run the risk of having their game removed from the store. New games should not be affected as they are now made to comply to these requirements upon adding them to the store.
You can resolve this by linking to / copying our privacy policy in the Google Ads console, and stating to Google support that the Unity Ads interface presents the players with a privacy policy and a dialogue for opting out from personalised ad targeting.
What does it exactly means? When I uploaded application to Play Store (about a month ago) I have added my privacy policy link to the appropriate field. In it I have stated that my applications may use Unity ads and linked your policy’s site in it (as I understood, GDPR needs this). As far as I know this has been required for a long time (at least since GDPR) and I didn’t got any notification of an updated agreement.
Do you mean the Play Store Developer console (where I upload the applications) under Google Ads console? Maybe it is a dumb question, but I should only contact support if there is a problem with my application listing, yes?
Is it really a “new” thing and I missed something or is it only about the need of a privacy policy on the application’s page?
@Zwiebel This is recent enforcement by Google. In the past week, I received several emails indicating an app has been unpublished, with this explanation:
"Issue: Violation of Usage of Android Advertising ID policy and section 4.8 of the Developer Distribution Agreement
Google Play requires developers to provide a valid privacy policy when the app requests or handles sensitive user or device information. We’ve identified that your app collects and transmits the Android advertising identifier, which is subject to a privacy policy requirement. If your app collects the Android advertising ID, you must provide a valid privacy policy in both the designated field in the Play Console, and from within the app."
These are all apps using Unity Ads. My apps that link to the Unity privacy policy in the store listing (if I remember correctly, the field is at the bottom of the Store Listing section in the Play Console) and also display a Privacy Policy button in-game using the Unity privacy plugin are fine.
I’m having this issue as well for an app that is still in alpha testing. However, I am not using Unity ads but Admob. What privacy policy is adequate for this? Any help is appreciated.
What is Google Ads console, I haven’t any, do you mean Google Play Console? If so what is my steps to resolve this? Should I paste https://unity3d.com/legal/privacy-policy link into Privacy Policy field in Store Listing tab of my app and send mail to google support, telling that the Unity Ads interface presents the players with a privacy policy and a dialogue for opting out from personalised ad targeting? Or should I just send a mail with telling this?
Also I didnt see any dialogues for opting out, I’m using built in ads under services panel with Unity 2017.3, should I update or something?
As I understood, publishing new apps with Unity Ads will not be exposed to this issue?
@mikaisomaa Hey is it okay to use the same privacy policy link of unity for apple app store privacy policy of my game?
i have added an screenshot of it here.
I feel like i am lost…
I don’t understand what i need to do.
This is why my game has been removed: Issue: Violation of Deceptive Ads policy
What exactly do i need to do? Someone please help me understand that.
And why my other game is still on GooglePlay?
You say “and a dialogue for opting out from personalised ad targeting.”. But you should give us access to tell the Unity Ads SDK that the user has opting out.
Hey guys this must be fix. Google is a god of game developer if we publish our app to them and we cannot do anything unless unity fix the GDPR compliance for unity ads.My google console account was terminated because i have 3 violations with the updated GDPR its really sad for me :(.
I’m having a nightmare…My game (which has been live for nearly a year), was suddenly removed last night. Google’s e-mail said I needed a privacy policy so I added the Unity privacy link (higher up this thread). After re-submitting, rejected again but this time due to deceptive ads policy (I would assume Unity doesn’t run these kinds of ads?). I tried re-submitting again but again refused but this time due to a metadata issue (my game is a space invaders style game) which I believe I corrected. After the last re-submission, I’ve gone back to a deceptive ads policy issue.
I’ve appealed to Google but can anyone shed any light on what might be the best way forward? Thanks.
