The day Google banned me (for life)

You had really liked it when I told you about my "misadventures with Amazon" a few months back, so today I've decided to tell you another story that happened to me several years ago, with Google this time.

We're in 2011, I'm in my first year of a computer science associate's degree at the University of La Rochelle, and for the first time I'm so passionate about my studies that I spend all my time developing: C++ for classes, and web development for my personal projects.

A few weeks earlier I had started building a tutorial website covering all sorts of topics, which I actually mention in my article "The 5 biggest failures that taught me how to be a better entrepreneur" and on which I spend all my time, torn between improving the site and writing content.

As naive as I was back then, even though the site wasn't really getting any visits, I start thinking about monetization, and decide to set up ad banners on the site.

So I go through the only service that was actually effective at the time: Google Adsense.

I then discover a fairly complex validation system (at least more complex than what I was used to at the time) requiring a lot of personal information about me, including banking details and my physical address (nothing illogical about that in itself).

After a few weeks of waiting, I finally receive the validation code inside a beautiful envelope stamped "Google", shining with a thousand lights, and I pounce on it to finally open the advertising account that would (maybe) generate my first euros as a website creator!

I then carefully install the ad banners on my site, no more than three per page, nothing too invasive, and within a few hours my site is updated and now "monetized".

Coming back to class the next day, I discuss it with some of my classmates, explaining to them how the compensation, validation, banners, etc. work...

Over the following days, some of them proudly admitted to me: "We're helping you monetize your site, we click on the ads when we visit".

And me, naively, I answered them: "Thanks!"

A week later, I received an email from Google informing me:

Following fraudulent use of our Google Adsense service (click abuse on advertisements), your account has been deactivated. Only your first appeal will be reviewed; if it is unsuccessful, your account will be permanently banned from the Adsense service, as well as any future accounts you open.

The shock. I hadn't imagined that a few well-meaning clicks from my friends (about twenty at most, but all coming from the same place, the famous IUT) could get me banned from such a service, and for life!

Of course, I explained my case, but I understood that I would never see my account again when the reply to my appeal email arrived exactly 10 seconds after I sent it.

When you're dealing with Google, never expect to talk to a human, ever.

Since then, and for the rest of my career, I am no longer eligible for this service (and it's not for lack of trying again), just like thousands of developers and marketers in the same situation as me. You can actually find hundreds of similar accounts on various forums, some dating back to 2020.

Since Google Adsense is the biggest ad network for monetizing a platform, there are even many stories of people in marketing who use the identities of other close family members in order to keep using this platform for their daily work.

Some have even lost tens of thousands of dollars in ad revenue after a ban like mine, with no (real) recourse...

So here's a piece of advice: be careful if you ever go through this platform, one misstep and you'll end up straight in the void.