"says it was careful to build its product according to Google’s rules" Oh come on. Apps that disrupt other apps have been banned from the store for a very long time. Blocking ads from collecting metrics looks just like that, there is nothing kafkaesque here. I get that they are trying to get some publicity from this, but they could be honest about it ..

I don't like ads one bit but if you don't want an ad supported app, pay for your apps (or use free ad-free apps)

Like the "security" reason Google gave when it banned all non-Chrome store extensions from being installed in Chrome, this one is also very bogus.

First off, in this case Google hasn't even said it's banning the app for "security reasons". It just banned it.

Second, if it is for security reasons, Google should improve Android's security architecture so something like this wouldn't be possible in the first place. It shouldn't rely on policy. But my guess is it wants some apps to be able to control other apps like this, because that's how it can do its tracking, too.

And isn't this how Android antivirus apps work, too? Don't they "interfere" with other apps when they scan their code? Either way, this sounds like Google would have to ban other classes of apps, too, if this policy were to be applied fairly.

And once again we go back to selective policy enforcement, which always sucks.