Google Suspended Polyamory Dating App For Violating Its 'Sexual Content And Profanity Policy'

While most of the world is still sticking to the monogamous relationship, lots of others are non-monogamy.

And '#open' is a polyamorous dating app that promotes "ethical non-monogamy from polyamory, threesomes, kinky dates and more."

Google apparently doesn't like that, and banned #open's Android app for violating its "Sexual Content and Profanity policy."

The polyamorous dating app however, was playing by Google's rules.

"The simple fact of the matter is this is out of our control & yet another example of how quickly & effortlessly thousands of marginalized individuals can be silenced," tweeted #open on Twitter.

Adding that "Facebook, Instagram, & other large tech companies alike, continue to suppress content, ideologies & in turn, communities, through vague ‘guidelines’ that seem to conveniently apply to unconventional brands & thoughts."

According to the company's co-founders, Amanda Wilson and David Epstein, the company's manager, Mailie Maniliguis, submitted an update to the wording to #open's Google Play listing "as all apps do from time to time."

Then one day, after one update, Google suddenly notified the company that the app had been suspended and removed.

The notice specifically said that the app's title and full description "#open: ENM + Polyamorous Dating" were the parts of the violation.

"Our Apple App Store description is almost identical and yet we have no issues there," said Maniliguis.

"Each of the keywords in our Title and Full description are keywords that show up on hundreds of our competitors in the Google Play store. Each appears in the Google Play Store on other apps between 50 and 250 times."

According to Google's policy, developers are prohibited from creating Android apps "that contain or promote sexual content or profanity, including pornography, or any content or services intended to be sexually gratifying."

Common examples include:

• Depictions of sexual nudity, or sexually suggestive poses in which the subject is nude, blurred or minimally clothed, and/or where the clothing would not be acceptable in an appropriate public context.
• Depictions, animations or illustrations of sex acts, or sexually suggestive poses or the sexual depiction of body parts.
• Content that depicts or are functionally sexual aids, sex guides, illegal sexual themes and fetishes.
• Content that is lewd or profane - including but not limited to content which may contain profanity, slurs, explicit text, adult/sexual keywords in the store listing or in-app.
• Content that depicts, describes, or encourages bestiality.
• Apps that promote sex-related entertainment, escort services, or other services that may be interpreted as providing sexual acts in exchange for compensation.
• Apps that degrade or objectify people.

But the thing is, the policy does not specifically cover dating apps.

The things that Google considers a violation, is when a dating app is targeting children

There are dozens of polyamorous dating apps on Google Play, and many specifically for finding threesomes, kink, hookups and one night stands—often as explicitly described by their titles, and at this time, there are still there for download on Google Play Store.

The #open developers have appealed, hoping for an re-inclusion. And during the wait, Wilson and Epstein said that the time is damaging.

Before the suspension, the app was ranked first on Google Play for the search “Polyamorous Dating app” and for the search “Polyamorous dating."

"It quite literally took us years and many of our resources to get to these positions...So the question is, what happens now?" Wilson and Epstein said in an email. "Will we lose this ranking even if we win our appeal? The uncertainty is unsettling."