[abuddy]

It's not a hyperbole but it's hard to say what Google would do in that situation, but I've read some stories of people getting banned.

For example, this story: https://medium.com/@sgehrman/banned-for-life-c62f2404f66

Relevant excerpts:

One day I saw my son watching Khan Academy videos on YouTube and I wondered if I could make the experience easier for kids. [...] Wouldn’t it be cool if the could just click an app and instantly watch? So this was the initial inspiration and I wrote a simple YouTube client app using the latest YouTube APIs to watch Khan Academy videos. [...] The good thing about this app idea is that I can take any YouTube channel id, plug it into and now I’ve got another new app. So, one day I posted 10 apps to the play store with a few of my favorite YouTube channels and the Khan Academy channel and it was kind of exciting. [...] A few weeks went by and I got an email stating one of my apps had been suspended. [...] The suspension email stated that I was trying to impersonate another company, and that this was forbidden. [...] After a few more weeks another app was suspended. And again I thought: “OK, 2 down 8 more to go, that’s cool.” I was planning on taking all these apps down in a few weeks anyway. Another few weeks go by and a third app was suspended and also my entire Google play account was terminated for life.

3 apps suspensions and you're banned for life. Different rules apply for different violations, for copying someone's else code I think they would ban for life.

[poopsintub]

Google plays by their own rules and likely suspends only if someone files a DCMA claim or receives multiple reports from users. It's likely an automated system if it's from users. Getting your app. reinstated is unheard of, even if you weren't in the wrong. You will have to provide undeniable evidence to have any chance at re-instatement. The three strikes and-you're-out is not a hard-and-fast rule.