The Dollar Factory

Google under fire again and again and again!

It seems that no day goes by without Google having to defend itself. The days when everybody loved Google and its “do no evil” mandate are quickly becoming long lost memories. Just this week, Google’s PR department had to come out and explain Google’s business practices.

First, Google is once again under fire for their secrecy on click fraud statistics. Forbes published a rather damning article, “Bitten by the Google Spider,” describing how an online marketer uses click flipping and cloaking to profit from AdWords and AdSense without adding value to the advertisers or users. The marketer interviewed in that article claims that he was misquoted but, regardless, I am sure there are many others who profit from such fraudulent practices.

Loren Baker from Search Engine Journal wrote an extensive article based on evidence collected by Webmaster Radio accusing Google for financing terrorist groups via its AdSense program and Orkut service. The article was aptly titled, “Google, Click Fraud and Hezbollah & Al Qaeda Terrorist Groups?” Basically, Webmaster radio’s Jim Hedger claims that there exist terrorist groups on Orkut that are financed via the display of AdSense ads. Google’s Matt Cutts was quick to respond that no individual receives payment for ads shown on Orkut and that most of the ads displayed on the specific groups mentioned are public service ads for nonprofit organizations and not terrorist groups. In terms of the second accusation and the blog networks that are profiting via AdSense, there is no official response that I know of but honestly, can we expect Google to police the entire world? In the meantime, ThreadWatch’s kidmercury claimed that Google is “In Bed With” the CIA” prompting another response from Matt Cutts.

Moreover, CentralDesktop claims that Google is taking advantage of its alleged monopoly power to undercut AdWords advertisers for competing products and services. Google has been using AdWords to advertising its email, maps, tools etc. services and people are questions how come and Google’s ads are always appearing on the top spot regardless of the bid amount specified by other advertisers who offer similar products. Google responded to this accusation via its Inside AdWords blog stating that they advertise on AdWords under the same terms and conditions as everybody else.

Google’s enormous growth is definitely fueling an anti-Google movement. The truth is that for every person that condemns Google, there is probable a thousand others that don’t. So, it might be a long time before Google goes from being tech world’s favorite company to being disliked as much as Microsoft!