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Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

smartprivacy.io

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Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#91

Post by MereInterest »

cortesoft wrote: post #55
laurentdc wrote: post #5

Why the war on virtual cards? My bank lets me create infinite "throwaway" credit cards that work for a single payment or up to a certain expiry date. They're great for never having to expose your real card number and keeping track of maximum spend. Are these classified as virtual cards? I use them all the time for Facebook ads and was planning to set up a AdWords campaign too, but now I'm worried

The issue is that this is bypassing one of the things some companies use your credit card as - collateral. For example, if you rent something, the credit card is used as a guarantee that you will return the item. If you don't, they can charge the card for the full price. If you use virtual cards, they can't do that.

What is preventing them from placing a hold for the full price, then charging the card if the item is not returned? They get the same verification that they can be reimbursed if the item is not returned, but cannot make an arbitrary charge later on.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#92

Post by filoleg »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #56
skykooler wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's rules about discrimination for specific reasons: you can't discriminate based on age, race, gender, etc. "Which credit card" you use isn't one of those categories, so it's legal to discriminate based on it. (And is often done, though not to this extent; many places, for example, will accept Visa and Mastercard but not Discover.)

I'm so glad it isn't my job to fight fraud. I worked at a place that would blacklist entire countries from signing up for their service, as a disproportionate number if fraudulent sign ups came from those countries. Every now and then I'd be contacted by an apparently regular customer who just wanted to try the service, and there was nothing I could do to help them, even when I really wanted to. I hated every part of…

Your situation isn't even as bad as what google did. It is one thing to proactively prevent sign-ups from potentially "fraudulent" users and another to permaban existing users on their first "offense" with no explanation and/or opportunity to appeal that decision. The latter should always be an option for permabans, no matter what.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#93

Post by vageli »

alanfranz wrote: post #29
skykooler wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's rules about discrimination for specific reasons: you can't discriminate based on age, race, gender, etc. "Which credit card" you use isn't one of those categories, so it's legal to discriminate based on it. (And is often done, though not to this extent; many places, for example, will accept Visa and Mastercard but not Discover.)

> many places, for example, will accept Visa and Mastercard but not Discover. But that's explicit and the same for everybody. If you accepted Discover from somebody and not from somebody else, THAT would be discrimination. Discriminating the credit card somebody is using without telling anybody... well, could still be discrimination. Younger people could be more prone to use an Apple card, couldn't them? Can you demo…

> > many places, for example, will accept Visa and Mastercard but not Discover.

> But that's explicit and the same for everybody. If you accepted Discover from somebody and not from somebody else, THAT would be discrimination.

> Discriminating the credit card somebody is using without telling anybody... well, could still be discrimination. Younger people could be more prone to use an Apple card, couldn't them? Can you demonstrate the "feature" you're discriminating about can't be tied to age, race, gender, etc?

FYI discriminating against people on the basis of age is not illegal when applied to youth, at least in the United States. This is obviously the case as we use age as a gate for many privileges.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#94

Post by jacquesm »

jonknee wrote: post #2

Google's classic canned response of "We've confirmed we're right, we will not tell you why and this is the last reply you'll receive" is one of the most infuriating things I can imagine. I make my income primarily through AdSense and live in fear of that email one day. In this scenario it seems pretty obvious that their automated fraud AI messed up, but the customer service person is probably also automated. They hav…

> Google's classic canned response of "We've confirmed we're right, we will not tell you why and this is the last reply you'll receive" is one of the most infuriating things I can imagine.

There isn't a week that goes by without that exact same story repeating itself.

> I make my income primarily through AdSense and live in fear of that email one day.

Maybe you could prepare for this by writing an angry blogpost ahead of time, to get it out of your system?

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#95

Post by maximente »

atemerev wrote: post #60
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I make my income primarily through AdSense and live in fear of that email one day. Perhaps you should change this? If you're aware your entire livelihood is a game of Russian roulette, you should maybe work on making it something else.

It is kind of hard to just “change” one’s principal passive income source. It’s not like taking another job if you don’t like the current one. Such things can take years.

there's nothing "passive" about this. he's relying upon a "platform" (there should be a more nefarious word for this, perhaps monopolyform or something) whose behavior in the past has indicated that it is arbitrary at best and malicious at worst. thus, there's an absolutely nontrivial existential risk of losing all of that one morning, at the whim of the platform overlord.

when you associate to any extent with a monopolyform, you must understand that at any point, the owner can absolutely annihilate you. that's the game, and those complaining post facto about how it's not fair should consider that those were always the rules, and complaining after getting bumped off is certainly understandable but that outcome should have always been a part of one's expected risks and possible outcomes.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#96

Post by ganeshkrishnan »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #56
skykooler wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's rules about discrimination for specific reasons: you can't discriminate based on age, race, gender, etc. "Which credit card" you use isn't one of those categories, so it's legal to discriminate based on it. (And is often done, though not to this extent; many places, for example, will accept Visa and Mastercard but not Discover.)

I'm so glad it isn't my job to fight fraud. I worked at a place that would blacklist entire countries from signing up for their service, as a disproportionate number if fraudulent sign ups came from those countries. Every now and then I'd be contacted by an apparently regular customer who just wanted to try the service, and there was nothing I could do to help them, even when I really wanted to. I hated every part of…

eBay? ;)

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#97

Post by FDSGSG »

This has nothing to do with the Apple Card. Google loves suspending Ads accounts for doing any changes to their profiles. I've had to go through this BS at least 5 times.

Odds are this guy would've been banned no matter which card he switched to.

Given that smartprivacy pushes VPN stuff I wouldn't be surprised if this guy had been using a VPN to log into his Ads account, which would be a sure way to get your account fucked.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#98

Post by FDSGSG »

slenk wrote: post #21
bovermyer wrote: post #7

The author offers it as a warning against using Apple Card. I read it as confirmation that Google would do well to focus on customer service for once.

What's easier? Not getting an Apple card or changing Google.

Why would not getting an Apple card keep Google from banning you?

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#99

Post by lonelappde »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #4
jonknee wrote: post #2

Google's classic canned response of "We've confirmed we're right, we will not tell you why and this is the last reply you'll receive" is one of the most infuriating things I can imagine. I make my income primarily through AdSense and live in fear of that email one day. In this scenario it seems pretty obvious that their automated fraud AI messed up, but the customer service person is probably also automated. They hav…

> I make my income primarily through AdSense and live in fear of that email one day. Perhaps you should change this? If you're aware your entire livelihood is a game of Russian roulette, you should maybe work on making it something else.

Yes everyone who has an unsteady job should just get a better one or not worry about losing the one they have. Quite stoic.

Re: Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

#100

Post by jacekm »

The stories like this can be heard every now and then and I think we all agree that Google's customer support could be vastly improved. But taking a step back, I am finding this particular story slightly suspicious as the site seems a little bit weird to me. The domain is only 4-months old and the entire site is almost empty, it consists of just a couple "reviews" of mostly VPNs and password managers and the author himself admits to participating in referral schemes. And despite advocating privacy he uses google analytics and one more tracking system on his site. The story he published is the only post that is not a review. If I had so much experience as he claims I would have better places to post my rant rather than at a newly created website. I can imagine a scheme where one posts a sensational story just to drive the traffic to their affiliate links-based business.

Now, having said all of this - I do NOT accuse author of anything, their story may be true, it actually sounds plausible. I'd just like to remind you of another google ban story [1] that made headlines some time ago and was later debunked by Google.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/8kvias/tifu_by_gettin...

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