Google Settles Clickfraud Suit for $90 Million
Following a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Lane’s Gifts, Google had decided to settle and put aside $90 million for reimbursment of those who have been hit by this issue. From their official statement:
Google currently allows advertisers to apply for reimbursement for clicks they believe are invalid. They can do this for clicks that happen during the 60 days prior to notifying Google. Under the agreement with the plaintiffs, we are going to open up that window for all advertisers, regardless of when the questionable clicks occurred. For all eligible invalid clicks, we will offer credits which can be used to purchase new advertising with Google. We do not know how many will apply and receive credits, but under the agreement, the total amount of credits, plus attorneys fees, will not exceed $90 million.
Many people argue that Google got an easy way out and taken it, $90 million limit, covers everyone, and most importantly mentioning that “those who have been rejected in the past, will most likely be rejected again“… Now, doesn’t that mean everyone?
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POSTED IN: Google
2 opinions for Google Settles Clickfraud Suit for $90 Million
alex
Mar 10, 2006 at 1:58 am
This will be nice for advertisers.
My opinion is that also the publishers must have a program like this to protect their accounts againt fraud.
Gilad
Mar 10, 2006 at 5:38 am
If you’re talking in terms of competitors clicking on ads that’s on your site just to get your adsense account closed due to fraud, I doubt it’ll happen. This is due to 2 reasons:
They are talking about advertisers monitoring their own accounts and filing a complaint when click-fraud is apparent. As a publisher, you cannot monitor every click, where it came from and where it went.
Either way, if your adsense competitor keeps clicking on your ads, then, it should be caught by the advertiser to begin with.
I think that majority of advertisers don’t know jack about PPC. Not how to run an account, maintain low cost or monitor for click-fraud. Therefore, search engines keep on raking huge profits and not being held accountable to such practices.
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