Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues
-
(here's the original Spanish article)
El niño de 12 años que se gastó 100.000 euros en YouTube
Un menor alicantino contrata publicidad al intentar ganar dinero con su canal de YouTube. La historia muestra el riesgo de aceptar sin leer las condiciones de un servicio en Internet
José Javier, 12, had signed up for Google's AdWords programme in order to make money from advertisements placed alongside YouTube videos of his band
Heh, good luck bro, you gonna need it!
Unfortunately for the young musician, Google's AdWords programme is for those wishing to advertise at cost, rather than run advertisements for profit
I can see where this is going...
According to a report Spanish daily El País, José and a friend planned to buy instruments, play music, get rich and buy a mansion by subscribing to the service.
What could possibly go wrong?
By early September the account was being billed by Google, receiving charges which reportedly rose quickly from an initial €15 to €19,700 at a time until the amount owed hit six figures.
So, presumably these kids thought the money in their account overview was their earnings, not their bill. Can you imagine how excited they got as they saw it climb above the €10'000 mark and carry on increasing?
: Emilio, look! It says we've earned €10'258, and thousands of people are watching our video every day!
: We're gonna be rich, amigo!Google's Spanish offices sent out a statement regarding the billing, explaining that the megacorporation's team has "analysed the case", and not only hasn't received payment from the family, but will proceed to cancel the outstanding balance on its Adwords service.
Awww, no fun!
-
@DoctorJones The point is, how can they get the AdWord to charge them up to six figure number within a month? (I assume the credit card company send them the bill on monthly basis) Clicks from same host with cookies enabled will be counted only once.
Some cheating must be involved, or they bid their URL's rank at unusually high price (Say, €10 per click).
-
@DoctorJones said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
José Javier, 12, had signed up for Google's AdWords programme
At least here in Germany, that's game over right there. You need to be 18 (or, in some special cases regarding minor amounts, 15) for that contract to have any legal status.
-
@cheong said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
or they bid their URL's rank at unusually high price (Say, €10 per click).
"It's asking me for a price per click? Why, I want to make as much money per click as I can! I'll set it to 100€"
-
@ChrisH said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
At least here in Germany, that's game over right there. You need to be 18 (or, in some special cases regarding minor amounts, 15) for that contract to have any legal status.
If the kid had used his parents' credit card or bank account, they might have some defense, but apparently he had his own with 2,000€ in it.
Most companies would block your account or at least harass you a bit after getting their charges rejected for the first time, but obviously Google's policy is to keep charging and hope they'll collect their debt sooner or later. Reminds me of people using AWS accumulating a $10,000 bill overnight when their pages get linked to reddit or something.
-
@anonymous234 said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
he had his own with 2,000€ in it.
-
@anonymous234 said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
but apparently he had his own with 2,000€ in it.
"Hey José, here's a couple thousand euros, don't spend it all in one place"
-
@pydsigner said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
"Hey José, here's a couple thousand euros, don't spend it all in one place"
No way José
-
@pydsigner said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
@anonymous234 said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
but apparently he had his own with 2,000€ in it.
"Hey José, here's a couple thousand euros, don't spend it all in
oneJuan place"
-
@dcon My little brother (around the same age) is saving up for a Macintosh. If the kid was serious about buying band equipment, he might be doing the same thing: saving up allowance, birthday money, and christmas money in one spot.
-
@Yamikuronue Maybe I read that wrong - I thought it was saying the kid had a CC...
-
-
@Luhmann said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
@dcon said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
a CC
Contact Center
Credit Card
-
@dcon said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
Credit Card
reality is a
to strange explanations
-
@Luhmann said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
@dcon said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
Credit Card
reality is a
to strange explanationsSo is the internet.
-
@anonymous234 said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
If the kid had used his parents' credit card or bank account, they might have some defense, but apparently he had his own with 2,000€ in it.
The article said the kid had a savings account he managed to hook up
-
@Yamikuronue said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
@anonymous234 said in Kid confuses adwords and adsense, hilarity ensues:
If the kid had used his parents' credit card or bank account, they might have some defense, but apparently he had his own with 2,000€ in it.
The article said the kid had a savings account he managed to hook up
Reading is a
to posting here...Also, my parsing went "If the kid had used his parents' credit card or bank account, they might have some defense, but apparently he had his own with 2,000€ in it."
Boy, 12, gets €100k bill from Google after confusing Adwords with Adsense
