Google Close to Settling in Click Fraud Case

Posted March 9, 2006

The news off the wire states that this is now a done deal.

…it had agreed to pay up to $90 million to settle a class action lawsuit over advertising fraud by outside parties on its site, in a bid to put the controversy behind it.
The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by Lane's Gifts earlier this year in an Arkansas state court and is designed to settle all outstanding claims against Google for fraud committed using its pay-per-click ad system back to 2002, it said.

The $90 million would involve legal fees and credits — rather than any cash payments — to all advertisers who apply to be part of the class settlement, once the judge certifies the agreement, Google spokesman Steve Langdon said.

$90 million is less than a week's worth of revenue for Google. Click Fraud is going to happen, it is just part of life - as is employee theft at a business. Unlike Yahoo! who never credits your account because of click fraud, Google at least makes an effort. About every other month we see a credit. We have NEVER seen a credit from Yahoo!, even when we have shown them the log files that show the fraud.

Google's stock will take a hit due to investors will get nervous, but Google will stay solid and a trusted partner to online advertisers.