Are Chrome Web Store rules not applied equally to all extensions?

[Toan Le Van]

Hi everyone,

About a month ago, I introduced a small optional charity-related modal to my Chrome extension. It appears only on checkout pages of Amazon, Aliexpress, and Booking. The modal gives users three clear choices: donate to charity, support the extension, or simply close the window. If a user selects one of the donation options, a separate tab opens with an affiliate link and closes automatically after 15 seconds.

This feature successfully passed the initial review, and I did not receive any warnings or notifications about policy violations.

I believe that this behavior complies with the Chrome Web Store affiliate policy: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/webstore/program-policies/affiliate-ads, and the successful moderation further reinforced my confidence in this.

For additional context, the idea for this type of optional window came from another extension I personally use - WebHighlights, which implements a similar approach.


What happened

A week ago, I submitted a new version of the extension.
The update included only locale (translation) file changes - no functional modifications.

The update passed review normally, but about 24 hours after it went live, I received a notification that my extension had been taken down. Shortly after that, my entire developer account was banned.

There were no warnings, no previous compliance notices, and no information about which policy might have been violated.

I submitted a support request, explained the situation in detail, and included all the code that had been added. However, the response I received stated that my extension is considered malware, without any explanation or details about what specifically triggered this decision.

You can view the full code here - it contains no obfuscation, no hidden logic, and no behaviors that could be interpreted as malicious. Every affiliate-related action occurs only with the user’s explicit choice and consent. Before implementing this modal, I even contacted Chrome support to clarify how to correctly follow the affiliate ads policy. The response I received stated that it is not possible to get feedback or clarification from the review team, and that the only way to verify compliance is to submit the extension for review - which I did.

My question

Are Chrome Web Store rules not applied equally to all extensions?

Web Highlights is still available, even though it uses the same approach, and I also found that the TripAdvisor extension uses a similar charity-style modal as both Web Highlights and my extension.

Or are there any additional requirements or permissions that I may have overlooked?

I would really appreciate a comment from a Chrome Web Store representative!

Because at this point, the situation is very confusing. It seems that the same rules are enforced differently depending on the extension, and what is allowed for one developer becomes a violation for another.

But the even bigger issue is that the review team does not seem willing to look into individual cases. It looks like the easiest option for them is simply to label something as a security risk and avoid giving any explanation. As a result, developers have no way to understand what actually happened, and the review team holds all the decision-making power without providing any clarity.

This lack of transparency creates an environment where decisions can feel arbitrary, and in some cases, this can lead to the review team unintentionally or intentionally misusing their position.