Google Play bullying and harassment policy: fixes and checks
By The Draftbit team · Updated
Sources checked
This guide is for Google Play apps containing or enabling threats, harassment, humiliation, blackmail, or bullying.
A harassment problem can come from a feature’s design as well as an individual post. Google’s policy prohibits apps that contain or enable threats, bullying, and related exploitation.
Follow the interaction
Use test accounts to inspect contact, tagging, posting, blocking, and reporting. Can someone repeatedly reach a person who has blocked them? Does a voting or ranking feature encourage public humiliation? We’d check private interactions alongside the public feed.
Change the behavior and the response
Remove offending content and redesign features that encourage harassment. Implement the relevant user-generated content controls and make sure reports reach someone who can act.
Test the corrected interaction from both accounts, including repeat attempts through alternative routes. Explain the product change and report-handling process to Google. A prohibition in the terms won’t resolve an app that continues to provide the abusive interaction.
Messages this guide can help with
Bullying and harassment; Bullying and harassment policy violation; Bullying and harassment rejection; Bullying and harassment denied
Official sources
We checked these instructions against the sources below. The console layout may change, and your review decision may call for different steps.
- Google Play: Bullying and harassment Checked 22 September 2026