Android Question [SOLVED] Ad Fraud?? I need an Advice

[mcqueccu]

Google keeps Rejecting my App anytime I implement FirebaseAdmob2 in my App. They claim I am committing Ad Fraud?

ABOUT MY APP
It's a simple app with Formulas to calculate Employee Social Security and Income tax.

POSITION OF ADS (3 Ads)
1. A banner Ads at the bottom of the Main Activity,
2. An interstitial Ads when the user hits the calculate button for 5 times, the 6th time shows an interstitial Ads
3. An interstitial Ad when User closed is True after which iad_closed event has Activity.finish to close the App

The app has been in the play store since 2019 with FirebaseAdmob which works fine.
I later switched to FirebaseAdmobplus which was also accepted in the play store, Until Support ended.
I then switched to FirebaseAdmob2 after it was released, When I implemented it, they accepted that update briefly and later removed the app after few days because of Ad Fraud.

I quickly removed the FirebaseAdmob2 from the App, cleaned the project, and uploaded an update without Ads and the App was reinstated into the Store (Version Code 8)
I Made another update - Made a change in calculating one particular Tax (Accepted to Playstore - Version code 9)

Yesterday, I reimplemented the FirebaseAdmob2. Consent manager tested OK, funding choices OK, App-Ads.txt OK , and USING THE SAME ADS POSITION, and the app was rejected again. Reason - Ad Fraud (Version code 10)

At this point, I feel there is something am not doing right.

Have anyone encountered this before? And how did you solve it?

 

[JohnC]

I think the important part of Google's response is "contains code to facilitate ad fraud". Meaning, google's code scanner is somehow thinking some of your code has the "ability" to do ad fraud even if it actually isn't.

For example, one of your methods displays an ad "after 6 calculations" - so maybe google thinks that because the ad doesn't appear every single time the calc button is pressed, then all of the sudden it does display an ad, google might think you're trying to trick the user to accidently clicking the ad because the user may be use to a particular tap sequence when using your app, and to suddenly display something new might get the user to click on the ad by mistake because they meant to click on something that the ad is now covering up, especially since interstitial ads cover most/all of the screen so any accidental click is an ad click.

You mention three different instances where you show ads:

POSITION OF ADS (3 Ads)
1. A banner Ads at the bottom of the Main Activity,
2. An interstitial Ads when the user hits the calculate button for 5 times, the 6th time shows an interstitial Ads
3. An interstitial Ad when User closed is True after which iad_closed event has Activity.finish to close the App

You may need to do a few trial and error runs to narrow down which of these three ad display methods are causing the rejection.

My guess is that method #2 is causing the rejection, so I would start with just including ad methods 1 and 3 in the app and see if it gets rejected. If it does, then just try method #1.

This might help narrow down which ad method google's scanner doesn't like.

P.S. From what I have read for some other apps, you are lucky that google didn't detect any actual ad fraud, otherwise your account could be closed permanently.

 

[asales]

3. An interstitial Ad when User closed is True after which iad_closed event has Activity.finish to close the App

You need to check this too:
Do not place interstitial ads on app load and when exiting apps

Disallowed interstitial implementations - Google AdMob Help

App load or exit Do not place interstitial ads on app load and when exiting apps as interstitials should only be placed in between pages of app content. Ads should not be placed in applications that

support.google.com

 

[mcqueccu]

You need to check this too:
Do not place interstitial ads on app load and when exiting apps

Disallowed interstitial implementations - Google AdMob Help

App load or exit Do not place interstitial ads on app load and when exiting apps as interstitials should only be placed in between pages of app content. Ads should not be placed in applications that

support.google.com

Seen. Am guilty of this as well.

My app is basically one Activity (Main) with Tabstrip to navigate to other layouts.

I will try AppOpenAds to see the result.

 

[tufanv]

You can use intertstitials on load but after a splash screen for example.

 

[kisoft]

It seems to me that FirebaseAdmob2 is not a problem here ... The problem is on your side, or actually the way you try to display ads ...

 

[mcqueccu]

It seems to me that FirebaseAdmob2 is not a problem here ... The problem is on your side, or actually the way you try to display ads ...

Yes, I agree. I think they just recently started being strict on this.

I released an app recently (on May 21) DVLA Questions, and its using firebaseAdmob2. Simillar Ads placement(banner at bottom, appopenads after answering 5 questions, an interstitial on closing the app) and it was also accepted and still in store.

 

[asales]

I will try AppOpenAds to see the result.

Don't forget to check this link below, because it has some requirements like "the app open ad should not be placed on top of content that includes a banner ad"...

App open ad guidance and best practices - Google AdMob Help

This is an article about App open ads in AdMob, which are a specialized format for monetizing your app's loading screens. They appear when a user opens the app or switches back to it. App open ads are

support.google.com

 

[mcqueccu]

Don't forget to check this link below, because it has some requirements like "the app open ad should not be placed on top of content that includes a banner ad"...

App open ad guidance and best practices - Google AdMob Help

This is an article about App open ads in AdMob, which are a specialized format for monetizing your app's loading screens. They appear when a user opens the app or switches back to it. App open ads are

support.google.com

Thank you all. I have learnt a lot from this thread. Obviously, I have implemented ads the wrong way over the years and they allowed it. Now they are hitting hard on me.
I will have to quickly update other apps to conform to these recommended implementation guidelines before they block my account.

 

[mcqueccu]

Update:
I have posted an update to the play store with just the banner ads and it has been accepted.

I need to read more about the do's and don'ts of instertitial, appopenadds, native, and others before I reimplement them.