WordPress Suspends Astra Theme – Impacting 1 Million Users

SEO September 30, 2024

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The widely-used WordPress theme Astra, with over one million users, has been suspended for five weeks. This action is due to alleged violations of WordPress policies concerning the inclusion of affiliate links in themes.

Update 08/10/2020: Astra Theme Suspension

The Astra WP Theme has returned to the WordPress Repository. It seems the suspension might have been lifted, though there’s no official update on the current status of the Astra WP theme.

Astra Theme Removed from WordPress Repository

Checking the official Astra theme page on WordPress reveals that the theme is unavailable. Using the search function on WordPress to find the Astra theme shows zero results, indicating that the theme is completely removed from WordPress.org.

Astra Affiliate Links?

An affiliate link allows individuals or organizations to profit from recommending products like Astra. Astra offers a free theme, along with premium versions that include additional functionalities suited for professional publishers rather than casual bloggers.

Official WordPress Announcement

The suspension was officially announced by TRT Messenger (Theme Review Team Bot) on August 7, 2020. The rule prohibiting affiliate links was implemented 18 months prior. WordPress had detailed discussions on this topic on their Slack channel and blog for many weeks. WordPress claims that Brainstorm Force had been given ample warnings about the issue.

Official WordPress statement:

“18 months ago, you started adding affiliate links in your theme.

… We have this requirement against this:
Themes are not allowed to have affiliate URLs or links.

We added this requirement more than 18 months ago, specifically for this kind of issue.

We also asked other theme authors to remove such links from their themes and discussed this topic on Slack & the blog for many weeks.

We don’t understand how you can miss something like this, and it’s also not the first time we have to tell you something is wrong with your theme.

Because of this, your theme will be suspended for the next five weeks (until September 11th, 2020).”

Brainstorm Force Astra Theme Response

Brainstorm Force, the publishers of the Astra theme, responded by asserting that they did not add affiliate links to the theme itself. Since there are no affiliate links in the theme, they claimed to be in compliance with WordPress rules. However, they admitted to using third-party plugins to pass a referral code.

Their explanation:

“We, however, admit that we used filters available in third-party plugins where we only pass our referral code. But at the same time, we do NOT add any affiliate links or whatsoever as per the requirement. We’re not sure if using the referral filter is against the requirement. But if it is, we’re happy to remove it immediately and submit the new version.”

Did Astra Theme Inject Affiliate Links?

Brainstorm Force insisted that they did not add affiliate code, only referral codes via third-party plugins. However, WordPress identified code within the Astra Theme that seemed to include links from the LinkShare/Rakuten affiliate network.

Astra Theme Suspension is Live

The suspension is currently in effect, meaning that the Astra theme is no longer available on the WordPress theme repository for download. Consequently, over one million Astra theme users will be unable to update their theme via WordPress for five weeks. Astra has announced an update removing the affiliate referral codes, which they say complies with WordPress rules. This update can be downloaded directly from Astra or their GitHub repository.

WordPress has formally suspended the Astra theme. Brainstorm Force has appealed to have the suspension lifted, but given previous attempts to resolve the issue, it seems unlikely that Astra will be restored before the five-week suspension ends.