l wanted to create a new website and searched for my favorite theme ''Astra''. Unfortunately, only a theme called 'Astral' popped up when l searched for the Astra theme inside Wealthy Affiliate Site builder.

My next step was to search for the Astra theme inside the WordPress repository and again the theme was missing https://wordpress.org/themes/astra/ . After searching around the web, that is when l learned that Astra theme was penalized and removed from WordPress theme directory for adding affiliate links inside their theme.

This is what l gathered from Wordpress, the exact wording of the suspension;

''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 come and tell you something is wrong with your theme.

Because of this, your theme will be suspended for the next 5 weeks (until September 11th, 2020).”

Astra theme owners are refuting the allegations although there is rumor that they had some snippet of 'Shareasale' affiliate link in the Theme's code.

• It may mean that the theme can not be up-dated for the next 5 months.
• This may imply that the theme will be susceptible to security breaches which may lead to websites being hacked.
• No one can install the Astra Theme for the next 5 weeks unless one has downloaded it already.
• Those with new websites may consider changing their themes to other popular themes such as Genarate Press.

So, if you wanted to use the Astra Theme for your blog like me. It is time to reconsider the choice on time before you download a theme which may have security risks if it is not being updated regularly. For established websites, consider contacting Astra Themes and WordPress support before changing your theme as it may be detrimental to the website's rankings.

(This article is for informational purposes. For any questions kindly get in touch with Astra or WordPress support.)

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