Google Play Books Has a New Content Policy. Authors Dealing with Piracy Should Read It Carefully.

Google Play Books recently updated its Publisher Content Policies, and one section in particular deserves attention from every author who has ever dealt with book piracy.

Under the heading “Spam, misleading & disappointing content,” Google lists the types of material that aren’t allowed on the platform. Most of the items are straightforward—no malware, no misleading metadata, no low-quality machine-read audio. But tucked into the list is this:

“Content that can be easily found online at no charge.”

On its face, this seems aimed at spam publishers uploading freely available material and trying to sell it. And that’s likely the intent. But for authors whose books have been pirated—sometimes across dozens of illegal download sites—this language raises an uncomfortable question.

The Question Authors Should Be Asking

If your book has been stolen and uploaded to pirate sites, file-sharing platforms, and torrent indexes, it is content that can be found online at no charge. Not because you made it free. Not because you chose to give it away. Because someone took it.

The policy doesn’t make a distinction between content an author intentionally distributed for free and content that was pirated and distributed without the author’s knowledge or consent. It simply references availability.

Does that mean Google Play Books would reject or remove a legitimate paid book because pirated copies exist elsewhere online? We don’t know. The policy doesn’t say. But the fact that the language could be read that way is worth paying attention to—especially if you’re an author who hasn’t been actively filing DMCA takedowns against pirated copies of your work.

A Pattern That Keeps Showing Up

This isn’t the first time authors have seen platform policies that don’t account for the realities of piracy. Authors who sell on multiple platforms already know the frustration of having their own legitimate listings questioned because unauthorized copies have spread across the internet.

The underlying issue is always the same: when a platform evaluates whether content “should” be sold based on whether free versions exist online, it puts the burden on the author rather than on the people who stole the work.

An author who has been pirated didn’t choose for their book to be available for free. But under broadly written policies, the result of piracy—widespread unauthorized distribution—can look the same as intentional free distribution to an algorithm or a policy reviewer who isn’t looking closely.

This is especially concerning for authors with large backlists. The more titles you have, the more targets pirates have—and the more exposure you carry across every platform where you sell. If you’re unsure whether your books are being pirated, the answer is almost certainly yes. Most authors underestimate how widespread the problem is.

Why Proactive Takedowns Matter More Than Ever

This is one more reason why letting piracy go unchecked is increasingly risky. It’s not just about lost royalties—though that alone is reason enough to act. It’s about what happens when pirated copies of your work become so widespread that they start affecting your standing on legitimate sales platforms.

Every pirated copy that stays live on the internet is another data point suggesting your book is “freely available content.” The more copies that exist, the easier they are to find, and the more vulnerable your legitimate listings may become to broad content policies that don’t distinguish between stolen goods and free goods.

Removing pirated copies isn’t just about recovering lost sales. It’s about protecting your ability to sell your books where readers actually buy them.

And the method of removal matters. Automated systems that blast out untargeted takedown requests can create their own problems — including flagging legitimate content or generating errors that damage your credibility with platforms. Human-verified takedowns ensure that every request is accurate, targeted, and defensible.

What Authors Can Do

If your books are being pirated, the most effective step you can take is to get those unauthorized copies removed. Consistent DMCA takedown efforts reduce the number of illegal copies in circulation, which reduces the chances that any platform—Google Play Books or otherwise—could flag your legitimate content based on the existence of free versions elsewhere.

Authors who distribute audiobooks should pay particular attention. Audiobook piracy is the fastest-growing segment of book piracy, and unauthorized audio files tend to spread quickly across platforms that Google’s policy would consider “freely available” sources.

The authors who stay ahead of piracy aren’t just protecting today’s revenue. They’re protecting their long-term ability to distribute and sell their work across every platform that matters.

BookDefender provides human-verified anti-piracy protection for authors and publishers. With over 5.5 million takedowns filed, we help professional authors protect their ebooks and audiobooks from illegal distribution. See how it works.