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If Google Play removed or suspended your app, terminated your developer account or removed a review, appeal first. If the decision stands, Article 21 of the Digital Services Act allows an independent review, developers included: ODS, run by ADR Center (certified by AGCOM, Resolution 501/24/CONS), is free, rules on admissibility within 10 days and issues a non-binding decision within 90.
ADR Center: out-of-court dispute settlement body certified by AGCOM under Article 21 of the DSA, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065.
Google Play tells you about an enforcement action by email, with the action taken and instructions on how to appeal. Its enforcement process distinguishes rejection, removal, suspension, limited visibility, limited regions, a restricted developer account and account termination. For an app that was removed or suspended, the Play Console Help Center says to open the app in Play Console, go to Policy status and appeal where the option is available, or to follow the link in the email (My app has been removed from Google Play). Google states that you may submit one appeal per app removal, suspension or other enforcement action, and that for now it can only respond to appeals in Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean, so write yours clearly in English. ODS is not part of Google: it is not Play Console support, it has no access to your account and it cannot republish an app. It comes in after your appeal to Google Play.
Account termination is the heaviest action Google Play takes. Google explains that when a developer account is terminated, all apps in its catalogue are removed from Google Play and you can no longer publish new apps; linked accounts are terminated too, and a new account opened afterwards would also be terminated, without a refund of the developer registration fee (Understanding Google Play developer account terminations). Here too you may submit one appeal per termination, within the time limit Google sets on its page, through the Google Play contact form for account terminations, app removals and suspensions, or through the help page inside Play Console. Before writing it, reread the policies cited in the email and gather the evidence you need, since you only get one appeal. If Google Play upholds the termination, you can ask for an independent review: a decision on a developer account is among those the Digital Services Act lets you bring to a certified body.
Yes. Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, the Digital Services Act, applies to "recipients of the service", which the Act defines as any natural or legal person who uses an intermediary service, in particular for the purposes of seeking information or making it accessible: a developer publishing apps on Google Play fits that definition. Google confirms it. On the page explaining which identifiers to include when submitting an out-of-court dispute settlement matter under the Act, it lists Play Apps for developers, reporters and end users, and Play App Reviews (Content Identifiers Assistance). For developers in the European Economic Area, Google also offers voluntary mediation run by an outside mediator under the EU rules for business users: that is a different route, with its own terms. ODS is run by ADR Center, a body certified by AGCOM, Italy's Digital Services Coordinator, under Resolution 501/24/CONS, and it handles cases in 16 languages, English included.
Google Play decisions are not only about developers. Google explains that if it removes a review you posted or reported, you receive an email with information about the removal and the reason for it, and you are granted one appeal of its findings. Repeated violations can lead to losing the ability to post reviews. The same page adds that if you are located in the European Union you may have more redress options, and links to Google's page on resolution options under the Digital Services Act (About Google Play Reviews). The reverse situation counts as well: if you reported a review or an app and Google Play left it up, the Act treats you as someone who received a decision you can challenge. In both cases the path is the same: first the internal appeal to Google, then, if the answer does not satisfy you, a review by ODS, which treats Google, developers and users with the same impartiality.
An ODS review of a Google Play decision is free, and the form asks for no payment. Article 21 of the Digital Services Act requires the procedure to be free of charge for the recipient of the service, or available at a nominal fee, and charges the body's fees to the platform, here Google; if the decision goes Google's way, you reimburse nothing unless the body finds manifest bad faith. Once your file is complete, ODS decides within 10 days whether the case is admissible and within 90 days on the merits, with an extension possible for highly complex disputes. Independent experts decide, and AGCOM certification requires the body to be impartial and independent of Google, developers and users. The decision is not binding: the Act says a certified body "shall not have the power to impose a binding settlement of the dispute on the parties", and Google states it is not bound by these decisions. Both sides take part in good faith, and Article 21 keeps your right to challenge Google's decision before a court at any stage.
Before opening a case about a Google Play decision, you need to have appealed to Google first, because ODS steps in after the platform's internal complaint. For an app or a developer account you will need: the app's Google Play URL and the Original Case ID, which Google shows in the subject line of the app report or of the appeal response, Google's emails, screenshots of Policy status in Play Console, and the date of your appeal with the outcome. For a review you need the Review ID shown in Google's notification. The ODS form also asks for your country of residence in the EU, a description of what happened, the Google account email and your contact details. If you file on behalf of a company that publishes apps, attach a document showing that you represent it. Finally, you confirm that the information is true and that no other dispute settlement body is handling the same decision, and you confirm the request from the link we email you.
ADR Center: out-of-court dispute settlement body certified by AGCOM under Article 21 of the DSA, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065.
Last updated: 28 September 2026
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