SHOW:
|
|
- or go back to the newest paste.
1 | I am a former Google employee and I am writing this to leak information to the public of what I | |
2 | witnessed and took part in while being an employee. My position was to deal with AdSense accounts, | |
3 | more specifically the accounts of publishers (not advertisers). I was employed at Google for a period of | |
4 | several years in this capacity. | |
5 | ||
6 | Having signed many documents such as NDA's and non-competes, there are many repercussions for me, | |
7 | especially in the form of legal retribution from Google. I have carefully planned this leak to coincide with | |
8 | certain factors in Google such as waiting for the appropriate employee turn around so that my identity | |
9 | could not be discovered. | |
10 | ||
11 | To sum it up for everyone, I took part in what I (and many others) would consider theft of money from | |
12 | the publishers by Google, and from direct orders of management. There were many AdSense employees | |
13 | involved, and it spanned many years, and I hear it still is happening today except on a much wider scale. | |
14 | No one on the outside knows it, if they did, the FBI and possibly IRS would immediately launch an | |
15 | investigation, because what they are doing is so inherently illegal and they are flying completely under | |
16 | the radar. | |
17 | ||
18 | It began in 2009. Everything was perfectly fine prior to 2009, and in fact it couldn’t be more perfect from | |
19 | an AdSense employees perspective, but something changed. | |
20 | ||
21 | ||
22 | Google Bans and Ban Criteria | |
23 | ||
24 | Before December 2012: | |
25 | ||
26 | In the first quarter of 2009 there was a "sit-down" from the AdSense division higher ups to talk about | |
27 | new emerging issues and the role we (the employees in the AdSense division needed to play. It was a | |
28 | very long meeting, and it was very detailed and intense. What it boiled down to was that Google had | |
29 | suffered some very serious losses in the financial department several months earlier. They kept saying | |
30 | how we "needed to tighten the belts" and they didn’t want it to come from Google employees pockets. | |
31 | So they were going to (in their words) "carry out extreme quality control on AdSense publishers". When | |
32 | one of my fellow co-workers asked what they meant by that. Their response was that AdSense itself | |
33 | hands out too many checks each month to publishers, and that the checks were too large and that | |
34 | needed to end right away. Many of the employees were not pleased about this (like myself). But they | |
35 | were successful in scaring the rest into thinking it would be their jobs and their money that would be on | |
36 | the line if they didn’t participate. The meeting left many confused as to how this was going to happen. | |
37 | What did they mean by extreme quality control? A few other smaller meetings occur with certain key | |
38 | people in the AdSense division that furthered the idea and procedure they planned on implementing. | |
39 | There were lots of rumors and quiet talking amongst the employees, there was lots of speculations, | |
40 | some came true and some didn’t. But the word was that they were planning to cut off a large portion of | |
41 | publisher’s payments. | |
42 | ||
43 | After that point there was a running gag amongst fellow co-workers where we would walk by each other | |
44 | and whisper "Don't be evil, pft!" and roll our eyes. | |
45 | ||
46 | What happened afterwards became much worse. Their "quality control" came into full effect. Managers | |
47 | pushed for wide scale account bans, and the first big batch of bans happened in March of 2009. The | |
48 | main reason, the publishers made too much money. But something quite devious happened. We were | |
49 | told to begin banning accounts that were close to their payout period (which is why account bans never | |
50 | occur immediately after a payout). The purpose was to get that money owed to publishers back to | |
51 | Google AdSense, while having already served up the ads to the public. | |
52 | ||
53 | This way the advertiser’s couldn’t claim we did not do our part in delivering their ads and ask for money | |
54 | back. So in a sense, we had thousands upon thousands of publishers deliver ads we knew they were | |
55 | never going to get paid for. | |
56 | ||
57 | Google reaped both sides of the coin, got money from the advertisers, used the publishers, and didn’t | |
58 | have to pay them a single penny. We were told to go and look into the publishers accounts, and if any | |
59 | publisher had accumulated earnings exceeding $5000 and was near a payout or in the process of a | |
60 | payout, we were to ban the account right away and reverse the earnings back. They kept saying it was | |
61 | needed for the company, and that most of these publishers were ripping Google off anyways, and that | |
62 | their gravy train needed to end. Many employees were not happy about this. A few resigned over it. | |
63 | I did not. I stayed because I had a family to support, and secondly I wanted to see how far they would | |
64 | go. | |
65 | ||
66 | From 2009 to 2012 there were many more big batches of bans. The biggest of all the banning sessions | |
67 | occurred in April of 2012. The AdSense division had enormous pressure from the company to make up | |
68 | for financial losses, and for Google's lack of reaching certain internal financial goals for the quarter prior. | |
69 | So the push was on. The employees felt really uneasy about the whole thing, but we were threatened | |
70 | with job losses if we didn’t enforce the company's wishes. Those who voiced concerned or issue were | |
71 | basically ridiculed with "not having the company's best interest in mind" and not being "team players". | |
72 | Morale in the division was at an all-time low. The mood of the whole place changed quite rapidly. It no | |
73 | longer was a fun place to work. | |
74 | ||
75 | The bans of April 2012 came fast and furious. Absolutely none of them were investigated, nor were they | |
76 | justified in any way. We were told to get rid of as many of the accounts with the largest | |
77 | checks/payouts/earnings waiting to happen. No reason, just do it, and don’t question it. It was heart | |
78 | wrenching seeing all that money people had earned all get stolen from them. And that’s what I saw it as, | |
79 | it was a robbery of the AdSense publishers. Many launched appeals, complaints, but it was futile | |
80 | because absolutely no one actually took the time to review the appeals or complaints. Most were simply | |
81 | erased without even being opened, the rest were deposited into the database, never to be touched | |
82 | again. | |
83 | ||
84 | Several publishers launched legal actions which were settled, but Google had come up with a new policy | |
85 | to deal with situations such as that because it was perceived as a serious problem to be avoided. | |
86 | So they came up with a new policy. | |
87 | ||
88 | After December 2012: The New Policy | |
89 | ||
90 | The new policy; "shelter the possible problem makers, and fuck the rest" (those words were actually | |
91 | said by a Google AdSense exec) when he spoke about the new procedure and policy for "Account | |
92 | Quality Control". | |
93 | ||
94 | The new policy was officially called AdSense Quality Control Color Codes (commonly called AQ3C by | |
95 | employees). What it basically was a categorization of publisher accounts. Those publisher’s that could | |
96 | do the most damage by having their account banned were placed in a VIP group that was to be left | |
97 | alone. The rest of the publishers would be placed into other groupings accordingly. | |
98 | The new AQ3C also implemented "quality control" quotas for the account auditors, so if you didn’t meet | |
99 | the "quality control" target (aka account bans) you would be called in for a performance review. | |
100 | There were four "groups" publishers could fall into if they reached certain milestones. | |
101 | ||
102 | They were: | |
103 | ||
104 | Red Group: Urgent Attention Required | |
105 | Any AdSense account that reaches the $10,000/month mark is immediately flagged (unless they are part | |
106 | of the Green Group). | |
107 | - In the beginning there were many in this category, and most were seen as problematic and were seen | |
108 | as abusing the system by Google. So every effort was taken to bring their numbers down. | |
109 | - They are placed in what employees termed "The Eagle Eye", where the "AdSense Eagle Eye Team" | |
110 | would actively and constantly audit their accounts and look for any absolute reason for a ban. Even if | |
111 | the reason was far-fetched, or unsubstantiated, and unprovable, the ban would occur. The "Eagle Eye | |
112 | Team" referred to a group of internal account auditors whose main role was to constantly monitor | |
113 | publisher’s accounts and sites. | |
114 | - A reason has to be internally attached to the account ban. The problem was that notifying the | |
115 | publisher for the reason is not a requirement, even if the publisher asks. The exception: The exact | |
116 | reason must be provided if a legal representative contacts Google on behalf of the account holder. | |
117 | - But again, if a ban is to occur, it must occur as close to a payout period as possible with the most | |
118 | amount of money accrued/earned. | |
119 | ||
120 | ||
121 | Yellow Group: Serious Attention Required | |
122 | Any AdSense account that reaches the $5,000/month mark is flagged for review (unless they are part of | |
123 | the Green Group). | |
124 | - All of the publisher’s site(s)/account will be placed in queue for an audit. | |
125 | - Most of the time the queue is quite full so most are delayed their audit in a timely fashion. | |
126 | - The second highest amount of bans occur at this level. | |
127 | - A reason has to be internally attached to the account ban. Notifiying the publisher for the reason is not | |
128 | a requirement, even if the publisher asks. The exception: The exact reason must be provided if a legal | |
129 | representative contacts Google on behalf of the account holder. | |
130 | - But again, if a ban is to occur, it must occur as close to a payout period as possible with the most | |
131 | amount of money accrued/earned. | |
132 | ||
133 | ||
134 | Blue Group: Moderate Attention Required | |
135 | Any AdSense account that reaches the $1,000/month mark is flagged for possible review (unless they | |
136 | are part of the Green Group). | |
137 | - Only the main site and account will be place in queue for what is called a quick audit. | |
138 | - Most bans that occur happen at this level. Main reason is that a reason doesn’t have to be attached to | |
139 | the ban, so the employees use these bans to fill their monthly quotas. So many are simply a random pick | |
140 | and click. | |
141 | - A reason does not have to be internally attached to the account ban. Notifying the publisher for the | |
142 | reason is not a requirement, even if the publisher asks. | |
143 | - But again, if a ban is to occur, it must occur as close to a payout period as possible with the most | |
144 | amount of money accrued. | |
145 | ||
146 | ||
147 | Green Group: VIP Status (what employees refer to as the "untouchables") | |
148 | Any AdSense account associated with an incorporated entity or individual that can inflict serious | |
149 | damage onto Google by negative media information, rallying large amounts of anti-AdSense support, or | |
150 | cause mass loss of AdSense publisher support. | |
151 | - Google employees wanting to use AdSense on their websites were automatically placed in the Green | |
152 | group. So the database contained many Google insiders and their family members. If you work or | |
153 | worked for Google and were placed in the category, you stayed in it, even if you left Google. So it | |
154 | included many former employees. Employees simply had to submit a form with site specific details and | |
155 | their account info. | |
156 | - Sites in the Green Group were basically given "carte blanche" to do anything they wanted, even if they | |
157 | flagrantly went against the AdSense TOS and Policies. That is why you will encounter sites with AdSense, | |
158 | but yet have and do things completely against AdSense rules. | |
159 | - Extra care is taken not to interrupt or disrupt these accounts. | |
160 | - If an employee makes a mistake with a Green Level account they can lose their job. Since it seen as | |
161 | very grievous mistake. | |
162 | ||
163 | ||
164 | New Policy 2012 Part 2: | |
165 | ||
166 | Internal changes to the policy were constant. They wanted to make it more efficient and streamlined. | |
167 | They saw its current process as having too much human involvement and oversight. They wanted it | |
168 | more automated and less involved. | |
169 | ||
170 | So the other part of the new policy change was to incorporate other Google services into assisting the | |
171 | "quality control" program. What they came up with will anger many users when they find out. It | |
172 | involved skewing data in Google Analytics. They decided it was a good idea to alter the statistical data | |
173 | shown for websites. It first began with just altering data reports for Analytics account holders that also | |
174 | had an AdSense account, but they ran into too many issues and decided it would be simpler just to skew | |
175 | the report data across the board to remain consistent and implement features globally. | |
176 | So what this means is that the statistical data for a website using Google Analytics is not even close to | |
177 | being accurate. The numbers are incredibly deflated. The reasoning behind their decision is that if an | |
178 | individual links their AdSense account and their Analytics account, the Analytics account can be used to | |
179 | deflate the earnings automatically without any human intervention. They discovered that if an individual | |
180 | had an AdSense account then they were also likely to use Google Analytics. So Google used it to their | |
181 | advantage. | |
182 | ||
183 | This led to many publishers to actively display ads, without earning any money at all (even to this day). | |
184 | Even if their actual website traffic was high, and had high click-throughs the data would be automatically | |
185 | skewed in favor of Google, and at a total loss of publishers. This successfully made it almost impossible | |
186 | for anyone to earn amounts even remotely close what individuals with similar sites were earning prior | |
187 | to 2012, and most definitely nowhere near pre-2009 earnings. | |
188 | Other policy changes also included how to deal with appeals, which still to this day, the large majority | |
189 | are completely ignored, and why you will rarely get an actual answer as to why your account was | |
190 | banned and absolutely no way to resolve it. | |
191 | ||
192 | ||
193 | ---- | |
194 | ||
195 | ||
196 | The BIG Problem (which Google is aware of) | |
197 | There is an enormous problem that existed for a long time in Google's AdSense accounts. Many of the | |
198 | upper management are aware of this problem but do not want to acknowledge or attempt to come up | |
199 | with a solution to the problem. | |
200 | ||
201 | It is regarding false clicks on ads. Many accounts get banned for "invalid clicks" on ads. In the past this | |
202 | was caused by a publisher trying to self inflate click-throughs by clicking on the ads featured on their | |
203 | website. The servers automatically detect self-clicking with comparison to IP addresses and other such | |
204 | information, and the persons account would get banned for invalid clicking. | |
205 | ||
206 | But there was something forming under the surface. A competitor or malicious person would actively go | |
207 | to their competitor’s website(s) or pick a random website running AdSense and begin multiple-clicking | |
208 | and overclicking ads, which they would do over and over again. Of course this would trigger an invalid | |
209 | clicking related ban, mainly because it could not be proven if the publisher was actually behind the | |
210 | clicking. This was internally referred to as "Click-Bombing". Many innocent publishers would get caught | |
211 | up in bans for invalid clicks which they were not involved in and were never told about. | |
212 | ||
213 | This issue has been in the awareness of Google for a very long time but nothing was done to rectify the | |
214 | issue and probably never will be. Thus if someone wants to ruin a Google AdSense publishers account, | |
215 | all you would have to do is go to their website, and start click-bombing their Google Ads over and over | |
216 | again, it will lead the servers to detect invalid clicks and poof, they get banned. The publisher would be | |
217 | completely innocent and unaware of the occurrence but be blamed for it anyways. | |
218 | ||
219 | ---- | |
220 | ||
221 | Their BIG Fear | |
222 | The biggest fear that Google has about these AdSense procedures and policies is that it will be publicly | |
223 | discovered by their former publishers who were banned, and that those publishers unite together and | |
224 | launch an class-action lawsuit. | |
225 | ||
226 | They also fear those whose primary monthly earnings are from AdSense, because in many countries if a | |
227 | person claims the monthly amount to their tax agency and they state the monthly amount and that they | |
228 | are earning money from Google on a monthly basis, in certain nations technically Google can be seen as | |
229 | an employer. Thus, an employer who withholds payment of earnings, can be heavily fined by | |
230 | government bodies dealing with labor and employment. And if these government bodies dealing with | |
231 | labor and employment decide to go after Google, then it would get very ugly, very quickly ..... that is on | |
232 | top of a class-action lawsuit. |