Internal Google emails allegedly show that engineers at the company knew credit was being generated for clients whose money was wasted on invalid clicks. That money was not returned, the emails allegedly show.The CEO of AdTrader recorded a phone call in which a Google sales staffer said his clients would be refunded for invalid clicks. The money never arrived.Alphabet, Google's parent company, denies that it intentionally defrauded any publishers or advertisers.
AdTrader sued Google in 2017, claiming that $476,622 paid by its clients for ads on web sites that contravened Google's rules was not refunded after Google discovered the clicks that generated the bills were invalid.AdTrader discovered the alleged non-payment after its CEO, Martin Stoev, recorded a phone call in which a Google staffer assured him that his clients' money would be returned.
As the litigants prepare for trial, AdTrader has obtained some internal documents from Google in the discovery process. It has also deposed a Google principle software engineer, Felix Chang, who worked on DoubleClick Bid Manager , a Google tool that clients use to buy ads.The emails show that Chang and a colleague discussed in December 2015 the issue of credits for advertisers whose ad campaigns had been affected by spam.
That's a smoking gun, AdTrader believes."For two years before this lawsuit they knew," Gaw said."When they catch ad fraud they just sit on it.""Nobody knew that there is a pipeline ... that is generating refund requests"