We have to change the category of #Fedilab in Google Play from "Social Network" to "Tools".
The reason, if it is set as a social Network app we have to provide a link to report child abuses.
While it is an important move from Google, it is impossible for us to link to such a report form. This part has to be managed by instances and Google will not understand when submitting the app to reviews.
@apps Yes. I read the Android Oficial App developer saying Google is requesting him the same thing.
@jotaluis
For the fediverse it is impossible. If they allow us to do it through the app and Mastodon implements a dedicated feature, it would be OK.
But as they ask a link, it will be a lie to put the one from our instance even if Mastodon has this dedicated feature.
@jotaluis @apps I believe that's a misunderstanding then (/cc @grishka).
You have to provide **in-app** reporting (cite: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/14747720?hl=en-en).
I made this work with #Pachli's existing report capability, and wrote https://pachli.app/csae/.
@nikclayton @jotaluis @apps we haven't completed that form yet. My understanding is that you have to just tick the boxes.
"Mastodon allows users to report child safety concerns in-app." — sure it does, you can submit a report with an appropriate comment to your instance staff.
"My app complies with all relevant child safety laws, and reports to regional and national authorities" — not something that can really be enforced. Just box ticking for its own sake.
@nikclayton @jotaluis @apps it's the "Safety standards URL" that's the hard one.
Not sure what you mean by "Safety standards URL".
If you mean the bit of the policy that says "Have published standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE);" I addressed that for Google by writing and linking to https://pachli.app/csae/, which they accepted.
Of course, it's not a homogenous review process, so it's possible Fedilab was reviewed by a reviewer who wasn't familiar with the policy.
@nikclayton @jotaluis @apps what I'm saying is that it's the hard one because it's a freeform thing that will probably be looked at by a human
@grishka
I guess that Google waits a category for child safety and not just the ability to write some text to explain the issue. Otherwise, all social networks already have that solution.
The problem, apps might be used by social networks that won't offer such reports.
@nikclayton @jotaluis
@apps @nikclayton @jotaluis that's the point that "all social networks already have that solution". It's not the first time that Google asks app developers to go through all this useless bureaucratic nonsense of ticking boxes to confirm that their app does this particular thing that it has already been doing since its inception. You rarely have to do any modifications to your actual app and/or service to comply with these.
@nikclayton
When we wanted to go through this with Google, we have to give a link to a form. That was not related to have an in-app feature to submit a report.
@jotaluis @grishka
@nikclayton
That said, currently there is no way to confirm that all instances allow to submit a such dedicated query.
@jotaluis @grishka