Apple and Google are cracking down on clones of the wildly popular Flappy Bird, according to reports from game developers.

The iPhone company is now allegedly blocking submissions of games based on Flappy Bird on the grounds that they "leverage a popular app." Likewise, Google is reportedly categorizing Flappy Bird clones as "spam."

A tweet from mobile game developer Ken Carpenter confirms the rejection of his app Flappy Dragon. "We found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app," he was told by Apple. "Which app?" he replied, "Flappy Bird doesn't exist!?!?!"

"There was no 'Fair Warning' email, which Google claims to send before taking such actions," Carpenter continued. "I checked and rechecked my spam folder to be sure. They just arbitrarily removed the app with no warning.

"The message they sent me simply referenced the 'spam' provision of the Google Play terms and did not specifically call out what my transgression was."

Developer Paul Pridham also commented on the issue, stating he plans to resubmit his Lovecraft-themed FlapThulhu: Flappy Madness to avoid being blocked by Apple on the basis of the Flappy Bird name.

We've contacted both Apple and Google for comment.