Lawsuit filed against Google adwords

A federal class action lawsuit has been filed against Google for its allegedly charging customers for ads that they do not want to access, view or subscribe. Users, in the process for signing up for Adwords, usually specify the maximum bid for the PPC advertising programme, the complainant pointed out. There are two options given by Google to the users as to where they want their ads served. There is a box, which displays ads on its properties, whereas another optional box can be used by them to bid for ads served on Google’s partner sites.

The problem seems that if the second box is left blank by the user, Google still continues to display the ads on third-party sites thereby charging customers, based on the amount specified in the first box, when they actually should not be charged. This situation formed the basis of the lawsuit since customers were charged for the ads they were not aware of.

Google is hurting its customers on two fronts. It is not only taking money out of customers’ pockets but also derailing their advertising strategies as well

Said Brian Kabateck, lead counsel on the case at the US district Court, Northern District of Carolina in San Jose. He further added:

Ads on third-party sites are widely-acknowledged to be far less effective (and therefore less valuable to the advertiser) than ads on Google.com. Google, of course, still profits (greatly) from these ads.

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