Google to Pay $100 Million in Advertising Lawsuit Settlement

Google to Pay $100 Million in Advertising Lawsuit Settlement
  • Google to pay $100 million to settle a class action lawsuit
  • Lawsuit alleged Google charged advertisers for clicks outside selected locations
  • The settlement still requires approval by a judge
  • The class includes advertisers who used Google’s AdWords program between 2009 and 2012
  • Google spokesperson says the case is about ad product features changed over a decade ago

Google will pay $100 million to settle a class action lawsuit accusing the company of charging for clicks on ads placed outside the geographic locations selected by advertisers. The proposed settlement was filed in a California court and still requires approval by a judge.

The lawsuit, first filed in 2011, centers around Google Adwords — now called Google Ads — and claimed Google broke California’s Unfair Competition law by misleading advertisers about the locations it would show their ads. It also alleged Google didn’t follow through on its promise to provide “Smart Pricing” discounts.

Background of the Lawsuit

The class includes advertisers who used Google’s AdWords program between June 1, 2009 and December 13, 2012. The settlement comes after “extensive” fact discovery, which counsel for the plaintiffs say involved reviewing more than 910,000 pages of documents and “multiple terabytes” of click data from Google.

Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in an emailed statement, “This case was about ad product features we changed over a decade ago and we’re pleased it’s resolved.”

Google has even bigger legal challenges, including a federal antitrust lawsuit that could force it to sell Chrome, and another lawsuit accusing it of creating a monopoly in the advertising technology industry.