1. User-generated content (UGC) is content that users contribute to an app and that at least a subset of other users can see or access — posts, comments, reviews, public groups, photos, livestreams, and similar. Play also treats specialized browsers or clients that send users onto a UGC platform as UGC apps. If people can publish something other people can find, you are in scope even when UGC is only one screen of a utility. Primary source: Play Console Help, "User Generated Content" (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9876937).
2. Users must accept the app's terms of use and/or user policy BEFORE they can create or upload UGC. The gate cannot be skippable. Play Console Help treats Terms of Use as separate from the privacy policy — do not bury the UGC rules inside privacy copy. Those terms must define objectionable content and behaviors in a way that is consistent with Google Play Developer Program Policies, and they must prohibit that content and those behaviors. A checkbox that never shows the rules, or a Continue control that skips the terms, is treated as a missing gate.
3. Apps that contain or feature UGC must run robust, effective, and ongoing moderation sized to the type of UGC they host. A report button is not enough: you must take action against violative UGC and users where appropriate — remove the content, restrict or ban the account, and keep doing that after launch, not only at first review. Help also requires safeguards so in-app monetization does not encourage objectionable user behavior (paid boosts whose principal effect is to push violative posts, for example). AR apps must moderate both objectionable AR UGC and sensitive AR anchoring locations (restricted sites or private property).
4. Report and block duties are tiered to the UGC shape. Closed or verified-user sets — a school-only or company-only app identified through user verification or offline registration — must provide in-app functionality to report content and users. Features that enable 1:1 interaction with specific users (direct messages, tagging, mentioning) must provide in-app functionality to block users. Apps that provide access to publicly accessible UGC, such as social networking and blogger apps, must implement in-app functionality to report users and content AND to block users. Public social therefore needs both surfaces, not one. Primary guidance: Play Console Help, "Understanding moderation requirements and incidental sexual content in UGC apps" (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12923286).
5. Report and block must live in the app, be clearly labelled, and be easy to find — not a hidden overflow reviewers cannot reach, and not a web form that requires leaving the app. Help lets you choose the UI pattern, but a single unlabeled control that "does both" is called out as confusing; the documented tip is separate, clearly labelled Report and Block actions. UI chrome alone does not satisfy policy: you must act on reports in a timely way so violative UGC does not stay reachable through the app. If Play flags missing report/block, re-check on a clean install that both functions exist, are labelled, and actually work.
6. Incidental sexual content is allowed only when it meets every Incidental Sexual Content rule: the app's primary content is non-sexual, the app does not promote or recommend sexual content (no top-of-feed push, launch pop-up, or prominent off-app link), and it is not known for hosting that material. Illegal sexual content and child endangerment are never incidental and are prohibited. Where incidental sexual UGC exists, a filter must hide it by default and users must take multiple actions (at least two) to disable that filter — one tap is not enough. A working age screen must keep children (as Families Policy defines them) out; minors must not access the app. Answer the IARC / content-rating questionnaire honestly about UGC. Same two Help URLs: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9876937 and https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12923286.
7. Apps whose primary purpose is to host objectionable UGC are removed from Google Play. The same removal applies if the product later becomes a haven for that content, or if users widely know it as a place that hosts it — original design intent is not a defense once that reputation is there. Common violation examples in Help include promoting sexually explicit UGC (including paid features that principally encourage sharing objectionable content); insufficient safeguards against threats, harassment, or bullying, especially toward minors; and apps that continually fail to address complaints about objectionable posts, comments, or photos.
8. Pre-submit checklist: (a) terms / user-policy gate that users must accept before they can create or upload UGC, with objectionable content defined and prohibited; (b) in-app report and block matching the UGC shape — report for closed/verified sets, block for 1:1, report users+content AND block users for public social/blogger; (c) labelled, easy-to-find controls plus a working queue that acts on reports; (d) IARC content rating answered for UGC, and Child Safety Standards completed if the app is Social, Dating, Anonymous Chat, or Random Chat; (e) Data Safety and the privacy policy accurate for anything UGC, chat, or reports collect; (f) no skippable terms, no web-only report path, no one-tap sexual-content filter; (g) re-read https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9876937 and https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12923286 after any social, chat, comment, or review-feature change.