Ask HN: How to escalate a rejected Google extension?

I submit an extension (an adblocker) to Google Chrome's web store.

Google keeps rejecting it for dubious reasons. The first rejection was claim it was "spam". When I appealed, the review came back that it contained "additional functionality" because it uses "modifies network traffic". Well of course it does! When I asked the reviewer how I could achieve the stated functionality of blocking ads without the use of "declarativeNetRequest" I simply received the same canned response.

I submit a totally new update that simplified the code and included comments, and references to other open source projecs that use the exact same mechanisms. Again it was rejected. On this appeal I asked if it could be escalated to a senior reviewer who could possibly reply with more context. Same canned response and rejection.

I can't help but think Google has some internal policy to give adblockers a runaround. It is obvious to me the stated rejections are not valid (Note that I'm also not new to this - I have several extensions that have been published for years with thousands of users) but have never encountered such gate-keeping before.

It's a sad state of affairs even if not totally unpredictable. To be honest I'm surprised Google hasn't made it an official policy to prohibit adblockers. But they haven't - obviously there are other adblockers published to the store, and that's what makes this so frustrating.

Anyway, fellow developers. Anyone run into a similar situation? And how did you resolve it? Thanks!

17 points | by modzu 6 hours ago

7 comments

  • Rygian 3 hours ago
    "Excuse me sir, would you mind carrying this extension that goes against your core business of selling ads?"

    Publish it as a Firefox add-on instead.

    [-]
    • xingped 3 hours ago
      Yeah, this exactly. Google goes out of their way to be as unfriendly to adblockers as possible in Chrome. I don't know why anyone is still even using Chrome or why you would want to support them (by value-adding to their browser) with your efforts.
      [-]
      • stronglikedan 3 hours ago
        because it's still the fastest browser with the most intuitive UI, which is all the vast majority of people care about
        [-]
        • ahriad 3 hours ago
          Edge is better, with only downside is that MS keep pushing Bing on its users.
        • noncoml 2 hours ago
          > all the vast majority of people care about

          apparently, as demonstrated by this post, they care about ad-blockers too..

  • Boxxed 3 hours ago
    > I can't help but think Google has some internal policy to give adblockers a runaround.

    Ding ding ding. Stop using chrome!

  • cantalopes 1 hour ago
    The only reason the google has invested into chromium is something along the lines of web manifest v3 so they can monopolize the way internet is consumed and monetized

    Of course they are going to do this

  • gwbas1c 2 hours ago
    My $0.02: I suspect each time you submit, you're evaluated by someone different, and everyone has their own interpretation of the criteria.

    When you submit, assume every time that you're going up against someone who's going to miss context from the prior submissions.

  • sitzkrieg 3 hours ago
    google is an ad company. mow different lawns
  • BestQ 2 hours ago
    I ship a small extension too, so this hits home.

    One path I haven't seen mentioned: the official chromium-extensions Google Group. Googlers from the Chrome Extensions team actually reply there, and a clear public post with your item ID gets a human eye the appeal form never does.

    https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/chromium-extensio...

    Good luck, genuinely.