Google Pulls Ad-Blockers From The Play Store For Violating Terms Of Service

It has proved to be a frustrating day for Google users. Before the announcement that Google Reader (and a bunch of other services) will be shut down as part of the company's spring cleaning round two, developers took up digital arms after realizing that their ad-blocking apps were pulled from the Play Store.

Such popular ad-blockers that were pulled include AdBlock Plus, Adfree Android, Adaway, and a host of others. The reason? For violating the service's Terms of Service. As such, Google is being trigger happy today and putting the kibosh on such applications. While developers are complaining, it is only fair to point out that Google was clear on what is not allowed.

According to the Google Play Store's Terms of Service, any and all ad-blockers are in violation, the sole reason they have been pulled. Says agreement 4.4 in regards to what is not allowed, "Any app that interferes with, disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator."

While it is a frustrating day for the developers of ad-blockers, the cries of which they are quite vocally voicing on Twitter and such networks, it is a good day for other developers who have lost revenue due to these applications. Many developers provide apps for free, relying on the money generated by the advertisements they utilize in the place of a flat-rate app fee.

[via Android Community]