Updates to Google Play Policies: Effective May 31, 2023

 Updates to Google Play Policies: Effective May 31, 2023

According to the official website of google, it updates to Google play policies that is effective on may 31, 2023. It says as follows:

We’re updating our Families Self-Certified Ads SDK policy to require developers with apps in the Families Program to only use self-certified versions of SDKs when serving ads to children or users of unknown age.

Families Self-Certified Ads SDK Program

If you serve ads in your app, and the target audience for your app only includes children as described in the Families Policy, then you must only use ads SDK versions that have self-certified compliance with Google Play policies, including the Families Self-Certified Ads SDK requirements below.

If the target audience for your app includes both children and older users, you must make sure that ads shown to children come exclusively from one of these self-certified ads SDK versions (for example, through use of neutral age screening measures).

Note that it is your responsibility to ensure that all SDK versions you implement in your app, including Self-Certified Ads SDK versions, are compliant with all applicable policies, local laws, and regulations. Google does not provide any representations or guarantees as to the accuracy of the information the ads SDKs provide during the self-certification process.

The use of Families self-certified ads SDKs is only required if you are using ads SDKs to serve ads to children. The following are permitted without an ads SDK's self-certification with Google Play, however, you are still responsible for ensuring your ad content and data collection practices are compliant with Google Play's User Data Policy and Families Policy:

In-House Advertising whereby you use SDKs to manage cross promotion of your apps or other owned media and merchandising.

Entering into direct deals with advertisers whereby you use SDKs for inventory management.

Families Self-Certified Ads SDK Requirements

Define what are objectionable ad content and behaviors and prohibit them in the ads SDK's terms or policies. The definitions should comply with Google Play Developer Program Policies.

Create a method to rate your ad creatives according to age appropriate groups. Age appropriate groups must at least include groups for Everyone and Mature. The rating methodology must align with the methodology that Google supplies to SDKs once they have filled out the interest form below.

Allow publishers, on a per-request or per-app basis, to request child-directed treatment for ad serving. Such treatment must be in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, such as the US Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Google Play requires ads SDKs to disable personalized ads, interest based advertising, and remarketing as part of the child-directed treatment.

Allow publishers to select ad formats that are compliant with Google Play's Families Ads and Monetization policy, and meet the requirement of the Teacher Approved program. 

Ensure that when real-time bidding is used to serve ads to children, the creatives have been reviewed and privacy indicators are propagated to the bidders.

Provide Google with sufficient information, such as submitting a test app and the information indicated in the interest form below, to verify the ads SDK's policy compliance with all self-certification requirements, respond in a timely manner to any subsequent requests for information, such as submitting new version releases to verify the ads SDK version’s compliance with all self-certification requirements.

Self-certify that all new version releases are compliant with the latest Google Play Developer Program Policies, including Families Policy Requirements.

Note: Families Self-Certified Ads SDKs must support ad serving that complies with all relevant statutes and regulations concerning children that may apply to their publishers.

Here are mediation requirements for serving platforms when serving ads to children:

Only use Families Self-Certified Ads SDKs or implement safeguards necessary to ensure that all ads served from mediation comply with these requirements; and

Pass information necessary to mediation platforms to indicate the ad content rating and any applicable child-directed treatment.

New examples and clarifications

Additionally, we’ve added new examples and clarifications to some of our existing policies. Because these policies aren’t new or updated, our enforcement standards and practices for these policies remain the same. 

We’re clarifying our User Data policy to emphasize that developers are responsible for the end-to-end user data handling practices for data acquired within their apps.

To better align with the existing policy language, we're renaming the Designing Apps for Children and Families policy page to Google Play Families Policies. We're also consolidating the page formerly known as Families Ads & Monetization onto the newly titled Google Play Families Policies page.

User Data

You must be transparent in how you handle user data (for example, information collected from or about a user, including device information). That means disclosing the access, collection, use, handling, and sharing of user data from your app, and limiting the use of the data to the policy compliant purposes disclosed. Please be aware that any handling of personal and sensitive user data is also subject to additional requirements in the "Personal and Sensitive User Data" section below. These Google Play requirements are in addition to any requirements prescribed by applicable privacy and data protection laws.

If you include third party code (for example, an SDK) in your app, you must ensure that the third party code used in your app, and that third party’s practices with respect to user data from your app, are compliant with Google Play Developer Program policies, which include use and disclosure requirements. For example, you must ensure that your SDK providers do not sell personal and sensitive user data from your app. This requirement applies regardless of whether user data is transferred after being sent to a server, or by embedding third-party code in your app.