Aaron Greenspan of Think Computer Corporation has generated quite a stir in the Google Adsense world over the last few months. Everyone knows of or at least has heard of the various Adsense accounts that are sporadically banned on a seemingly hourly basis. Most of those are well founded and the people being banned know exactly why they’ve been banned. As such, to avoid wasting time and resources on fielding complaints from known offenders, Google has chosen to go with no service model for banned accounts. As soon as you’re banned, you’re banned. They don’t tell you why, not if you call, not if you e-mail. That’s fine and dandy for the gross offenders, but as always, many innocents are caught in the crossfire and are left with no recourse. Or so we thought.
That’s where Aaron enters the picture. Back in March, he wrote a piece for the Huffington post about how he sued Google and won. he went to small claims court to try and get the amount owed to him by Google when his account was closed. He was arguing that since Google would not tell him if he had even violated any ToS, they had unlawfully canceled the contract. The judge found in his favour.
Then it gets a little ugly. All seemed fine and dandy, and Google looked set to pay him until his original article hit the web in a big way. The bad PR fallout pushed Google to appeal the ruling and rather than cough up the cash, they sent in papers to notify him of the appeal. The judge ended up finding in Google’s favour, though it’s not clear as to why. The one bright side was that Aaron got to finally find out why they had banned his account in the first place. One problem was a sketchy detail that was right on the line of the ToS and the other was technically a breach of the ToS but was done so much that Google ended up offering the service as a separate offering two days after his account was canceled.
So what’s the moral of the story?
- As Aaron points out, “don’t be evil” (Google’s standing directive) does not equate to “don’t be a jerkhole”.
- If you want to find out why Google banned your Adsense account, take the to small claims court and then wait for them to appeal. This trick may not work for long so use it while you can.
This kind of situation is inevitable when your favourite garage startup turns into a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company. It’s the circle of life. Start out as a rebel, become “the man” so that someone new can rebel against you.
Movie Club // Jun 11, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Wow, this stuff is bewildering. I just got an email the other day about a class-action lawsuit regarding Google AdWords… apparently they are suing the big G because people are getting sheisted on their daily budget allowances or something. Didn’t pay too much attention to it since I don’t use AdWords anymore.
Ling // Jun 12, 2009 at 10:40 am
I suppose it must be hard for someone who got banned to not know why – especially if they’re innocent. There should be some sort of review process to correct honest mistakes.
web hosting asap // Jun 12, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I can understand why google wouldn’t release the reason he was banned, they would hate to release their trade secrets in how they found out that he was breaking the rules (obviously trying to prevent an epidemic) If you want your money that badly, then the only way to go is small claims court.
Power Hour // Jun 13, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Wow, that’s pretty crazy. All google had to do was send an email with the reason his account was closed and all of this could have been avoided.
I had an issue with google adwords when I burned through $350 in two days on ads. When neither google analytics, nor awstats showed the amount of traffic adwords claimed I received. They wouldn’t refund my money so I closed my account and let it be a loss.
Savings Accounts // Jun 13, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Google bans people daily without reason. What they need to do is invest a lil money in a customer service/support team to hedge these problems before they get to that point. I have had no problems with G but know a few that have.
moralde // Jun 16, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Going to a small claims court in the US will work, just as Aaron had exemplified. But I wonder if it works the same way outside, e.g. the Philippines, India, etc.
Opticians // Jun 17, 2009 at 4:11 am
Im always hearing about google banning Adsense acounts over at DP. Im sure that most of the time Google have good reason to do so.
fashion // Jun 17, 2009 at 4:40 am
that does not really make sense. Google could have avoided all the drama just by sending him an email and describing what was wrong with site. But then sometimes innocents gets caught up even without any fault of theirs.
Healthcare // Jun 17, 2009 at 6:37 am
Seems like a very harsh way for Google to behave. Surely this is going to screw over a lot of genuine users
Steven Hall // Jun 17, 2009 at 10:00 am
Google has done it’s role just like two sides of coin i.e. one side fair but other side very negative character!
Training Courses // Jun 18, 2009 at 4:39 am
He is never going to win this, lets face it
sms // Jun 18, 2009 at 8:12 am
well, i agree with training course,
he is never going to win this
bluetooth headset reviews // Jun 18, 2009 at 9:31 am
I am totally agree with the two ones (sms & Trainning courses) that he is not going to win this !it would be very rare case that he might be going to win it!
gurtey // Jun 18, 2009 at 10:07 am
i ve been banned 2 weeks ago…so im goin to try my luck on this trick
thanks
Door Handles // Jun 18, 2009 at 11:01 am
He will probably lose but it is admirale for this guy to stand up to google
Mac // Jun 20, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I think this is becoming a rapidly growing “age old” dilemna. What can Google do and what can they do that is justifiable. I really have to side with Google because the ultimate goal is for TOTAL relevance. Not something that is linked via keywords for example and deemed relevant. Imagine what the web is going to look like in 10 years.
luxs // Jun 21, 2009 at 1:43 am
So, is this small claim courts really works? I’ve got a feeling that this is just waste of time.
Blogging Tips // Jun 21, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Big Ol G is such a bully some times…..I think they should have a mediation process so people can correct unknown mistakes.
Robert Star // Jun 21, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I’m impressed by what Aaron did. Google must have notified why his account was being closed. Google must see to such acts because being sued is a bad sign and may harm its reputation. They can appoint a team to look after this matter specifically.Goodwill is more important.
Falmouth Sound - Music Event in Cornwall // Jun 23, 2009 at 4:43 am
We have had several of our accounts banned, so I might do exactly the same thing!
Hypotheek // Jun 23, 2009 at 8:48 am
G doesn’t provide any other information which is quite strange because I think you should be able to know why they took such a dramatical decission. I mean this can impact businesses so if you should get a proper change to give your side of the story without going to court.
papandut // Jun 25, 2009 at 1:17 am
maybe more people will take action like Aaron did. At least they have the answer why they account being banned.
Shawn // Jun 26, 2009 at 11:59 am
That’s actually no new.. Google has ban me also so many times without any reason!
Thermal Labels // Jun 29, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Wow, I hadn’t heard of this before but after reading those articles it sure seems like Google went to great pains in order to appeal this case. Surely it cost them more than $700 is lawyer fees alone, so it was more a PR thing than anything else. Or maybe a deterrent to the possibility of future lawsuits.
Who Discovered // Jul 5, 2009 at 5:38 am
Good luck to the man but he can never win this battle!
Exhaust // Jul 10, 2009 at 11:33 am
Really interesting stuff. I wonder how much $ he was set to get paid?
Recenzie Produkty // Jul 11, 2009 at 5:44 am
It is bad if google don´t tell you why you are banned, i know some people who didn´t brake rules of google and they was banned, they don´t know why to this days.
borjz // Jul 14, 2009 at 1:46 pm
It’s nice that you share this experience on suing google… I also banned by google on my adsense and i never retrieve my account since then…
Modeling Jobs // Jul 28, 2009 at 4:12 pm
As much as we would all love to know why Google does things for sure, it would ultimately hurt them if they made that public.