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I received a lifelong ban on using Google Ad products when I was 16 after experimenting with clicking my own ads (and asking my high school friends to click on

I received a lifelong ban on using Google Ad products when I was 16 after experimenting with clicking my own ads (and asking my high school friends to click on them). I remember the account accumulated almost $80 before Google detected the suspicious activity and banned me. Given that this was 16 years ago, it would be nice to get second chance..

jeffbee 4y ago
- testfoobar 4y ago
  Perhaps you did not note that the banned person was 16 years old. There should be very few actions with life long consequences for any 16 year old. Their prefrontal cortex is not fully developed. They experiment and engage with the world to learn its boundaries and limits. Click fraud for $80 when 16yo does not warrant a lifetime ban.
  - doodlesdev 4y ago
    I beg do differ. When I was a kid I used to have a YouTube channel with AdSense. Difference being I actually read the ToS and decided that it would be my parents channel, only I would be recording. Never clicked on my channels ads (in fact that's when I started using AdBlockers, for the sole purpose of not generating fraudulent ad revenue). Reading at 16 years old is not that hard. I created that YouTube channel much earlier than that. I also don't believe that as I aged I have magically understood better the worlds boundaries and limits. Mind you, 16 years old is enough to drive in some places. Enough to work in others. And also enough to drink in some others. It's just not that young and people should take responsibilities for their actions. Principles and values are something that's established early on in someone's life. If someone doesn't care for defrauding a company of $80 when they are 16 years old, I don't honestly believe they deserve a second chance.
    - xboxnolifes 4y ago
      Are you making the claim that since you didn't make a mistake at 16 that no other 16 yo can make mistakes? As well as the claim that any mistakes made at 16 means that the person will forever repeat those same mistakes for life?
      - Devasta 4y ago
        He spent his teenage years reading terms and conditions, let not pretend he didn't make mistakes.
        f1shy 4y ago
        Best possible response. Thank you.
        doodlesdev 4y ago
        > He spent his teenage years reading terms and conditions I spent 15 minutes or so reading a document which I'm obligated to read to sign a contract and discovered I myself couldn't do it and so passed that to someone else. > lets not pretend he didn't make mistakes That's true. I do have multiple regrets too. Reading terms of services isn't one though.
      - doodlesdev 4y ago
        > Are you making the claim that since you didn't make a mistake at 16 that no other 16 yo can make mistakes? No. > As well as the claim that any mistakes made at 16 means that the person will forever repeat those same mistakes for life? No. I said that since I didn't make that mistake much before 16 years old (13 or so) then it's possible for a 16 years old to not make the same mistake. That's about reading ToS, defrauding Google is a whole other can of worms. I also didn't say they will make the same mistakes for life, only that they shouldn't get another chance. Google has no reason from their point of view to give access to their platform to someone who once tried to defraud them and put them in several liabilities related to child labor and exploitation.
    - rideontime 4y ago
  - filoleg 4y ago
    Agreed. That + the offense itself is rather stupid minor. The user didn't defraud people out of a lot of money, the user literally just had a few classmates click on an ad, made $80 (that I bet weren't paid out anyway, because the account got banned), and now they are banned for life. At the very worst, I would say a more fair punishment would be a ban for a year or until they reach the age of 18 (whichever comes later out of those), especially given it was the first offence.
    - sokoloff 4y ago
      Though I agree with your judgment of what would be more fair, for me it doesn’t extend to compelling a private entity to enter into a contract with another private entity.
      - filoleg 4y ago
        Good point, and I honestly struggle with reconciling it and what I said earlier. Because on a fundamental level, I agree with both.
      - account42 4y ago
        We already require private entities providing services/products to the public to not discrimiate who they enter into contracts with based on certain protected attributes. However in this case you don't even need to do that - just make it illegal for such services to keep information on minors for longer than $period. If they can't identify you they can't deny you service while still indiscriminately providing service to everyone else.
  - kweingar 4y ago
    I wish people showed more grace to young people. Another example along your lines: many were quick to declare that the chess player Hans Niemann ought to be banned from the sport because he admitted to cheating at online no-stakes chess games when he was 16. He is accused (without evidence) of cheating again, and people are latching on to the "once a cheater, always a cheater" mentality.
    - lupire 4y ago
      He's 19. He cheated and then lied about it, and continued lying about it until very very recently, and credibly allegedly is still lying about it. His coach is also an unapologetic cheater in a Titled tournament. He deserves to still be on probation, not playing with world champions.
- tedajax 4y ago
  Now this is the kind of unhinged, unnuanced take I come to HN to read, bravo.
- acheron 4y ago
  Exactly. The leopard doesn't change its spots.
  - dumbfounder 4y ago
    I had Google shutdown my Adsense account and they didn't ever reveal why, I think they just didn't like the site it was on (A twitter picture search engine) but they never told me. I certainly didn't think I was doing anything nefarious, but maybe my site wasn't supposed to be displaying ads. They kept my money (like $3k) and I am pretty sure I can't ever use the service again, but I honestly haven't tried. I also get a letter every so often (this was 10+ years ago) from one of the big auditing firms that I have money in my google account and I just need to go claim it by logging into the account I can't login to anymore.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  > Personally I'm glad that people with a demonstrated history of fraud are excluded from the ad market If only corporations were held to such a rule..
cavisne 4y ago
Now apply that logic to billions of users…
no_butterscotch 4y ago
I have a friend that was banned when he was a teenager too. Might be common.
monksy 4y ago
This is also a case for online play on xbox and playstation. You have kids trying to shittalk.. and trying to be edgy. (They have very little life experience to understand why their words are wrong or hurtful). However, some of these bans completely wipe out their entire console. It's pretty shitty to do a life time ban on their accounts for minor things like that.
lupire 4y ago
Who is banned? Your first @gmail.com address? If you weren't 18, how did they know who you were?
- pazimzadeh 4y ago
  Yes. I have not tried using a different gmail address. I am not sure if they have my SSN on record or not, it was a long time ago, I don't remember what information I gave them but I did use my real name.
  - sjs382 4y ago
    An LLC with an EIN is the answer here.
sjs382 4y ago
Same. I wasn't clicking my own ads but I was 16ish and had some sort of text along the lines "Please click an ad to support this website." 20 years later, I'm still banned (well, last I checked was probably 5 years ago). Funnily enough, my day job has me interacting with AdWords pretty regularly. Also, FWIW you can probably sign up with an EIN, just not a personal account with your SSN.

jeffbee 4y ago

testfoobar 4y ago
Perhaps you did not note that the banned person was 16 years old. There should be very few actions with life long consequences for any 16 year old. Their prefrontal cortex is not fully developed. They experiment and engage with the world to learn its boundaries and limits. Click fraud for $80 when 16yo does not warrant a lifetime ban.
- doodlesdev 4y ago
  I beg do differ. When I was a kid I used to have a YouTube channel with AdSense. Difference being I actually read the ToS and decided that it would be my parents channel, only I would be recording. Never clicked on my channels ads (in fact that's when I started using AdBlockers, for the sole purpose of not generating fraudulent ad revenue). Reading at 16 years old is not that hard. I created that YouTube channel much earlier than that. I also don't believe that as I aged I have magically understood better the worlds boundaries and limits. Mind you, 16 years old is enough to drive in some places. Enough to work in others. And also enough to drink in some others. It's just not that young and people should take responsibilities for their actions. Principles and values are something that's established early on in someone's life. If someone doesn't care for defrauding a company of $80 when they are 16 years old, I don't honestly believe they deserve a second chance.
  - xboxnolifes 4y ago
    Are you making the claim that since you didn't make a mistake at 16 that no other 16 yo can make mistakes? As well as the claim that any mistakes made at 16 means that the person will forever repeat those same mistakes for life?
    - Devasta 4y ago
      He spent his teenage years reading terms and conditions, let not pretend he didn't make mistakes.
      - f1shy 4y ago
        Best possible response. Thank you.
      - doodlesdev 4y ago
        > He spent his teenage years reading terms and conditions I spent 15 minutes or so reading a document which I'm obligated to read to sign a contract and discovered I myself couldn't do it and so passed that to someone else. > lets not pretend he didn't make mistakes That's true. I do have multiple regrets too. Reading terms of services isn't one though.
    - doodlesdev 4y ago
      > Are you making the claim that since you didn't make a mistake at 16 that no other 16 yo can make mistakes? No. > As well as the claim that any mistakes made at 16 means that the person will forever repeat those same mistakes for life? No. I said that since I didn't make that mistake much before 16 years old (13 or so) then it's possible for a 16 years old to not make the same mistake. That's about reading ToS, defrauding Google is a whole other can of worms. I also didn't say they will make the same mistakes for life, only that they shouldn't get another chance. Google has no reason from their point of view to give access to their platform to someone who once tried to defraud them and put them in several liabilities related to child labor and exploitation.
  - rideontime 4y ago
- filoleg 4y ago
  Agreed. That + the offense itself is rather stupid minor. The user didn't defraud people out of a lot of money, the user literally just had a few classmates click on an ad, made $80 (that I bet weren't paid out anyway, because the account got banned), and now they are banned for life. At the very worst, I would say a more fair punishment would be a ban for a year or until they reach the age of 18 (whichever comes later out of those), especially given it was the first offence.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    Though I agree with your judgment of what would be more fair, for me it doesn’t extend to compelling a private entity to enter into a contract with another private entity.
    - filoleg 4y ago
      Good point, and I honestly struggle with reconciling it and what I said earlier. Because on a fundamental level, I agree with both.
    - account42 4y ago
      We already require private entities providing services/products to the public to not discrimiate who they enter into contracts with based on certain protected attributes. However in this case you don't even need to do that - just make it illegal for such services to keep information on minors for longer than $period. If they can't identify you they can't deny you service while still indiscriminately providing service to everyone else.
- kweingar 4y ago
  I wish people showed more grace to young people. Another example along your lines: many were quick to declare that the chess player Hans Niemann ought to be banned from the sport because he admitted to cheating at online no-stakes chess games when he was 16. He is accused (without evidence) of cheating again, and people are latching on to the "once a cheater, always a cheater" mentality.
  - lupire 4y ago
    He's 19. He cheated and then lied about it, and continued lying about it until very very recently, and credibly allegedly is still lying about it. His coach is also an unapologetic cheater in a Titled tournament. He deserves to still be on probation, not playing with world champions.
tedajax 4y ago
Now this is the kind of unhinged, unnuanced take I come to HN to read, bravo.
acheron 4y ago
Exactly. The leopard doesn't change its spots.
- dumbfounder 4y ago
  I had Google shutdown my Adsense account and they didn't ever reveal why, I think they just didn't like the site it was on (A twitter picture search engine) but they never told me. I certainly didn't think I was doing anything nefarious, but maybe my site wasn't supposed to be displaying ads. They kept my money (like $3k) and I am pretty sure I can't ever use the service again, but I honestly haven't tried. I also get a letter every so often (this was 10+ years ago) from one of the big auditing firms that I have money in my google account and I just need to go claim it by logging into the account I can't login to anymore.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
> Personally I'm glad that people with a demonstrated history of fraud are excluded from the ad market If only corporations were held to such a rule..

cavisne 4y ago

Now apply that logic to billions of users…

no_butterscotch 4y ago

I have a friend that was banned when he was a teenager too. Might be common.

monksy 4y ago

This is also a case for online play on xbox and playstation. You have kids trying to shittalk.. and trying to be edgy. (They have very little life experience to understand why their words are wrong or hurtful). However, some of these bans completely wipe out their entire console. It's pretty shitty to do a life time ban on their accounts for minor things like that.

lupire 4y ago

Who is banned? Your first @gmail.com address? If you weren't 18, how did they know who you were?

pazimzadeh 4y ago
Yes. I have not tried using a different gmail address. I am not sure if they have my SSN on record or not, it was a long time ago, I don't remember what information I gave them but I did use my real name.
- sjs382 4y ago
  An LLC with an EIN is the answer here.

sjs382 4y ago

Same. I wasn't clicking my own ads but I was 16ish and had some sort of text along the lines "Please click an ad to support this website." 20 years later, I'm still banned (well, last I checked was probably 5 years ago). Funnily enough, my day job has me interacting with AdWords pretty regularly. Also, FWIW you can probably sign up with an EIN, just not a personal account with your SSN.