Just some points as I feel they make it clearer for everybody. Please see the app above mine. It has 18 ratings. 3 stars overall. My search ads are showing. They will not work because my retention tells the algorithm that my game is not relevant to the keyword "chess" overall. I spent a lot but am 24th for keyword "chess". I have proof of attacks to kill the rank of my app. My app is an exact match more or less for the keyword "Chess". Even if I am outbid which I will be at times, the other app was abandoned 7 years ago. My app made over $1M in the app store (not a huge amount but not tiny). It now makes next to nothing. There is no way that the 3 star app with 18 ratings has spent over $10,000 and got 18 ratings. It's broken 100%. Totally rigged. Total scam to tell me to spend more money to get above the 3 star app :)

Apple just reported back and said they are inestigating but that I won't hear anything further about it. What about my ruined app stats, my inability to effectively use search ads, and my app ranking? Unreal. Who would you contact in the press? I have all the screenshots and analytics of the damage :(

I just got targetted yet again. This time in South Africa.

I just got targetted in South Africa. Last week it was Vietnam.

Apple came back and said that they are investigating it but that they will not be reporting back.

I think it is difficult to get Search Ads to work for a paid app. The conversions will be very low compared to a free app. Have you considered free with an IAP?

Did it eventually reset?

Have you had reviews since the 28th?

I just checked and none of my apps has been rated since 28th. I guess there is some system issue.

Thank you, I will contact them.

Still no ratings or reviews.

100s of reviews just came through :)

A few hundred just came through. Hopefully back to normal.

I got told that my app "Sudoku" was spam even though it was one of the very first Sudoku apps, not just on iPhone but anywhere in the World. It pre-dated the Apple App Store by several years. My version invented things like picture Sudoku etc that are nowadays in every Sudoku app. There's definitely something strange going on these days with the review process. After lots of complaining and sending proofs that it pre-dated the store it was finally let through.

Those obviously fake 5 star reviews can get you in to serious trouble with Apple. Be sure to report them vcia "report a fraud" in AppStoreConnect. What kind of institution downloads 50,000 apps? I would block "institutional" purchase if I could.