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Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

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Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#121

Post by ceejayoz »

fweimer wrote: post #91
romwell wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the solution is "the right to fucking delete your account forver". Google keeping "limbo" accounts is dystopian, and seems like a GDPR violation to me.

At least the GPDR should allow you to correct the age. I don't think it has any provisions that say that if you entered incorrect data yourself, you waive your right to have data corrected.

They'd be required to correct the age, but they wouldn't be required to delete the "this person defrauded us by giving a false age" flag/note on your internal profile.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#122

Post by xboxnolifes »

doodlesdev wrote: post #55
testfoobar wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

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?

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#123

Post by wnoise »

shadowgovt wrote: post #36
Falling3 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google opens themselves up to huge liability if they inadvertently do business with a minor, which is why they're so paranoid about the lock-out. What liability is that? Genuinely asking because I've never heard that concern.

The "under-18-year-olds can't enter into contracts" laws are, broadly speaking, derived historically from child labor protection concerns, and tend to be state-level law. There's very real risk that legitimizing a contract with a child opens Google up to expensive-to-litigate criminal liability.

Children technically can enter into contracts. But they're voidable contracts, so it's essentially no upside and only downside for those that would contract with them.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#124

Post by ceejayoz »

pb7 wrote: post #120
ceejayoz wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google wielded its substantial power and reputation to trigger government action incorrectly, causing someone to have significant difficulty. IMO, that's at least a bit dystopian. (The blurring of lines between goverment and corporation is another dystopian scifi trope, even.)

It doesn't take any special power or reputation to report someone for having CSAM with evidence, erroneously or not. You or I could do it.

Again, missing the point.

It's not just the action; it's the ability to do it without significant consequences. I could sue you for slander if you called me a pedophile; my ability to do so (successfully) against Google is quite limited. Law enforcement is also likely to treat an accusation from Google differently than from some random person.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#126

Post by code51 »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #57
code51 wrote: post #2

A 13-year-old boy sets up Adsense for his Youtube channel and his father is told that his son is now banned from Adsense/Admob for a lifetime. This is what you get when you have no humans in the loop.

Was he told this? The submission appears to be a user comment from some anonymous guy named "busterjet", describing what would happen in a hypothetical scenario. There's no indication that such a scenario has actually happened or that busterjet represents Google.

You're right, this person does not represent Google but here's the hard truth:

Google does not offer Adsense/Admob support for ordinary people. No way to reach them.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#127

Post by tedajax »

jeffbee wrote: post #19
pazimzadeh wrote: post #5

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..

Quoted post unavailable.

Now this is the kind of unhinged, unnuanced take I come to HN to read, bravo.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#128

Post by heavyset_go »

ars wrote: post #49
Shank wrote: post #15

As someone who operated on the "adult internet" with payment processors and related infrastructure without being 18, I still carry forward the constant fear that I'll be banned for retroactive Terms of Service violations incurred when I was a kid. It really sucks when it's services like AdSense because you're just screwed forever. I really really wish the internet was more supportive of "early hackers" who want to ex…

The escape hatch is the parent opening the account in their own name. Companies don't have a choice here: Someone under 18 can not enter into a contract, there's nothing really they can do.

There is plenty they can do and that they're already doing. The inability to enter contracts with someone doesn't mean they need to get banned for life from the service.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#129

Post by manuelmoreale »

kweingar wrote: post #78
romwell wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the solution is "the right to fucking delete your account forver". Google keeping "limbo" accounts is dystopian, and seems like a GDPR violation to me.

I'm all for grace and forgiveness, but it seems excessive to require businesses to delete all records of people who defrauded them. If a liquor store had caught me with a fake ID, I wouldn't consider it dystopian if they put my name on a list and kept it in the back.

I guess it would make sense for them to keep it until you have the actual legal age.

It wouldn’t make sense to refuse to sell you liquor when you’re in your 80s though.

Re: Google Adsense/Admob blocks you for life if you use it before you're 18

#130

Post by rideontime »

doodlesdev wrote: post #55
testfoobar wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

but... you also committed fraud, you just got away with it...
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