None of this is surprising or remotely new for Google. As someone who has dealt with Google’s moderation process from other products, it’s basically the same sh

None of this is surprising or remotely new for Google. As someone who has dealt with Google’s moderation process from other products, it’s basically the same shit as it was 15 years ago. This isn’t a Google Chrome Webstore specific issue, this is a universal Google issue. I imagine the sloppy processes were the result of keeping things automated early in Google’s life and as they grew, to obfuscate spammers. Then, as Google got bigger over the past decade and morphed into a dis-functional bureaucracy, any hope of improving those processes was lost. Smaller companies can get away with these sorts of things, but once you are under the lens of politicians and anti-trust regulators, it starts to cause a material impact on the business. The price is going to be paid eventually, by Google’s stockholders. In the short term this specific uBlock Origin issue may look good for Google. Less ad blocking users for Chrome means higher revenue per install. Many of the bad decisions the Chrome team made were probably strongly supported by user cohorts and revenue data (like forcing Google logins on Chrome if you logged in to Gmail.) That might be enough for some of Google’s executives and middle managers to earn self directed bonus stock options. In the long term, we all know what happens when the early adapters move on to other products.