Google profits from the manipulation of its pay-per-click advertising service by others, and hasn’t done enough to end the practice, according to a lawsuit filed by pay-per-click analysis firm Click Defense.
[Red Herring]reports :
“The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court as a potential class action, alleges Google has been negligent in monitoring fraudulent clicks, at a loss to its advertisers and a gain to its own bottom line.
In addition to more than $10 million, the suit asks that Google be required to disclose “the true extent of click fraud” and to return any money to advertisers that resulted from the practice.
“We believe this suit is without merit, and we will defend ourselves against it vigorously,” said Google spokesman Mike Mayzel. The case is similar to a suit pending in Arkansas state court, and Mr. Mayzel said the same comment would apply in that case.
While Google’s AdWords program does have a process for click fraud refunds, “the protocol is changing by the week,” according to Scott Boyenger, CEO of Click Defense. “When you’re bringing in a billion dollars a quarter, you’re going to protect that nut.”
Mike from [TechDirt] has a nice comment about this :
“[] While some of it is stoppable, blocking it out completely would be impossible. They do make one interesting point, saying that Google should open its AdWords log files to independent auditors to determine how much click fraud is happening. It’s an interesting argument – and it might actually be in Google’s best interest to do so, in order to calm worried advertisers. However, no one forced these companies to advertise on Google, and if they dislike the terms of the contract concerning their ability to audit the logfiles, shouldn’t they negotiate with Google or take their business elsewhere?”
Posted by Coolz0r
Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
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