[Mistri]

Setting aside all of the other absurdities that Google has been throwing out here, the one thing that really gets to me is the concept that "ad fraud" is even a type of punishment for Google. I run an site with Google Ads, and users of my site have, in the past, realized this and purposefully ran autoclickers on my ads in order to get me banned from AdSense.

I don't understand how they can blame the publisher for this type of action. I understand they obviously can't pay out for the fraudulent clicks, but instead of banning the account, simply don't count the fraudulent clicks! What's so difficult about that?

[antasvara]

I think you then run into the issue of companies trying to sneak fraudulent clicks past Google. If I knew there was little to no chance of repercussions, I would absolutely try a bunch of programs to try and sneak fraudulent clicks past.

It's like if you told a student that there was no punishment for cheating, the questions they cheated on just wouldn't count. This doesn't hurt that bad, because if you were cheating on a question you (most likely) didn't know the answer.

[Mistri]

Sure, but in this analogy, if other students cheat off your test, you're punished for it.

[antasvara]

It's not a perfect analogy because advertising doesn't have a limited number of "questions." If someone adds fraudulent clicks to your site, there's no downside to your business. Worst case, these clicks are ignored. Best case, these clicks are actually counted. Either way, your business is unaffected.