Google will pay $100 million to settle 14-year-old advertisers' lawsuit

Google will pay $100 million to settle 14-year-old advertisers’ lawsuit

Google will have to pay $100 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed 14 years ago against Google AdWords (now Google Ads). In 2011, advertisers accused the tech giant of charging for clicks on ads placed outside of their specified geolocations.

So, Google violated California’s Unfair Competition Law by misleading advertisers about the locations where their ads would be shown. The company also failed to fulfill its obligations to provide users with discounts within the Smart Pricing program.

“This case was related to advertising product features that we changed more than a decade ago, and we’re pleased that it has been resolved,” said Google spokesperson José Castañeda.

The settlement was reportedly reached after an “extensive” review of the facts, during which, according to plaintiffs’ attorneys, more than 910,000 pages of documents and “several terabytes” of clickstream data obtained from Google were examined. The list of victims included advertisers who used Google’s AdWords program between June 1, 2009, and December 13, 2012.

The sum of $100 million will be distributed among them. Plaintiffs’ legal representatives may receive up to 33% of the settlement, with an additional $4.2 million going toward legal fees. However, the settlement is still subject to court approval.