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Comment by sandworm101 | Hacker News Reader

>> videochat

Big red flag. If you are connecting random people via video chat you open yourself to all sorts of abuse. I'm not saying that it is happening on your service, just that advertizers (and therefore google) are wary of videochat.

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I am not connecting random people via video chat (the site generates a unique url that is meant to be shared among friends). However, even if I was connecting random people, I think it would have been appropriate for them to specify why they suspended my account.

I doubt it had anything to do with the video chat aspect though.

This is the link they pointed me to in their suspension email https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/2375414 Given that I received no warning, they must have suspended me for an "egregious violation" of which they define five:

- Circumventing systems

- Counterfeit

- Promotion of unauthorized pharmacies

- Unacceptable business practices

- Trade Sanctions violation

I am really curious what their algorithm saw in my little chess website that suggests that I'm peddling pharmaceuticals, counterfeiting money, or selling banned technology to unsavory regimes. Heck, I don't even accept payments!

My best guess is that their algorithm panicked because I have that automatic redirect to a new unique URL when you click to start a new game. Apart from that, I have no idea what it could possibly be.

"Counterfeit" might be the issue. Do you have any method of reporting copyright violations? If you are offering a streaming video service they might think that it could be used to stream copyrighted material. Maybe the problem is as simple as having an appropriate DMCA contact info displayed on the homepage.

You do realize this person's entire point is you shouldn't have to play these guessing games right?

Nobody should, but the reality is that we must. At least until we are rich enough to purchase a controlling share in google.

If people keep accepting it we must. If enough people complain loud enough they will change. Posts like this help move the needle.

> Google Ads prohibits the sale or promotion for sale of counterfeit goods. Counterfeit goods contain a trademark or logo that is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the trademark of another. They mimic the brand features of the product in an attempt to pass themselves off as a genuine product of the brand owner. This policy applies to the content of your ad and your website or app.

> Google Ads counterfeit vs. DMCA/Copyright/Pirated products

> Counterfeiters mimic the trademark brand features, rather than copying the product itself (software, books, artwork, movies, etc.).

Couldn't have been.

Do you used the current date/time and/or Math.random() to generate your random URLs client-side?

I left Google's indexing system 10 years ago, but back then, I made some inelegant workarounds to prevent these features from breaking duplicate page detection. I'm nearly certain the code I wrote has all been replaced with something Chrome-based, but I'm just trying to think of things that could trip up page analysis.

I could see how very rare patterns that are typically used to intentionally trip up page analysis might put your pages on some bad actor list. I really have very little idea how these auto-detection systems are implemented, and these are wild guesses, but they're hopefully better than nothing.

I forget now whether I did it server-side or client-side but I do generate a random hex string, yes.

It's reassuring to hear that a former Google engineer shares my same suspicions as to why this happened. Thank you.

If that's the reason, it would be nice for Google to come out and say so.

Blame chatroulette. When people like google hear "videochat" they immediately think of that ridiculous image-recognition software that chatroulette rolled out in a feeble attempt to reduce abuse.

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