Google’s bots decide “.ass” subtitle support is too risqué for the Play Store

Enlarge / Google’s app review robots can’t be reasoned with, they don’t feel pity… (credit: Carolco Pictures)

Google Play’s crazy automated app review process strikes again.

This time, the puritan robot overlords that run the Play Store briefly decided that listing support for common subtitle files is enough to get your app banned. The developer for Just (Video) Player posted their story to Hacker News, writing in the app’s bug tracker, “After a tiny unrelated description update, Just Player got suspended from the Google Play Store for “Sexual Content and Profanity policy“. Google finds issues with following: Full description (en_US): “* Subtitles: SRT, SSA, ASS, TTML, VTT.””

Yes, just listing standard video player features like support for the “ASS” subtitle format was apparently enough to temporarily earn a suspension. The developer says they “immediately filed an appeal” and today, the app is back up with the ASS subtitle listing still in the description.