Advertisements such as gambling are displayed on the product page of the App Store and complaints flood from developers

Starting October 25, 2022, the App Store will have a slightly different design, with ads appearing in new locations. However, developers have complained about gambling apps appearing in the 'recommended apps' section of individual app pages.

Apple Pauses Gambling Ads in App Store Pages After Developers Complain [Updated] - MacRumors
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/10/26/app-store-gambling-ads-complaints/

Until now, ads in the App Store were displayed only in the keyword-based search results column and the 'Recommended for you' column of the search tab, but with the design change on October 25, developers Ads can now be displayed in 'Today', which displays recommended apps, etc., and in the recommended column displayed at the bottom of individual app pages.

But now that gambling apps are appearing in these new ads, developers who find them offensive have filed complaints with Apple.

``The App Store has corrupted such a great company so deeply,'' said software developer Marco Arment. That's it,' commented.

Now my app's product page shows gambling ads, which I'm really not OK with.

Apple shouldn't be OK with it, either.

The App Store has corrupted such a great company so deeply. They make so much from gambling and manipulative IAPs that they don't even see the problem anymore. https://t.co/MnNlf7k0kT

— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) October 25, 2022

Ads are also displayed in apps that have little relevance to gambling apps, for example, it has been confirmed that ads are displayed as recommendations in educational apps for children and gambling addiction treatment apps. In addition, adult chat apps are displayed on podcast apps, and dating apps are displayed on marriage improvement apps.

These App Store ads are something…

Reading? You might also like: Adult Video Chat
In Therapy for Addictions?
Streaming Disney? You might also like: California Psychics
Improving your Marriage? You might also like: Hinge Dating pic.twitter.com/lMlgHT0AgK

—Basic Apple Guy (@BasicAppleGuy) October 26, 2022

According to Arment, developers who want to display ads can choose where to display ads from 'all categories', 'similar categories', and 'other categories'. Educational apps and gambling apps are not 'similar', which suggests that advertisers are choosing 'all' or 'other.'

Correction to earlier tweet (deleted): product-page ads are NOT limited to relevant apps.

You can specifically choose to show your ad against irrelevant apps!

(Just not specific apps. They're saying “Advertise my casino everywhere,” not “Advertise my casino against Overcast.”) pic.twitter.com/hrAWdJDyyb

— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) October 26, 2022

There are also voices criticizing the display of gambling app ads on the App Store, ``Apple has become greedy and is moving away from the policy it supported under former CEO Steve Jobs.''

As of October 26th, Apple has responded to MacRomors' interview that it has 'paused gambling ads on app pages,' but no further details are known.