Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> Google will never tell you why they banned you from AdSense/AdMob. (Honestly, it sort of makes sense that they share no evidence, because Google doesn’t want people to learn how Google detects click fraud.)

No, I don't think that makes sense. Google is not sharing this information because they want to protect their own business, but in doing so, they are shifting all risk to the app developers. If you have a business model that only works because your process for removing bad actors is kept secure by obscurity, then maybe you should rethink whether your business model is sound?



I'm not aware of any major business that publicizes this kind of information. Try going to your bank and ask them for details on how their anti-fraud system works.

The problem here is this imperfect click fraud ban can ricochet into your app getting banned too.


But the bank will point to a specific transaction as the reason or a series of transactions to show a pattern.

i.e., You've had 15 $9000 deposits over the last 15 weeks in what appears to be an attempt to avoid reporting to to the federal government.


No, I've worked a bit with banking fraud and money laundering, if we'll "fire" a customer, we won't provide any specifics.

Pointing out specific behavior is appropriate if you want people to change that behavior. But in such cases we don't want them to start working differently, we want to stop doing business with them. We don't want them to create a new company and try to do the same thing more carefully and keep within our detection limits, that's not a success, that would be a failure of our detection, we want to keep them and people like them out, preferably forever, and preferably with minimum expenditure of resources to keep them out. The same probably applies to Google.


if a bank fire you, there a lots of other banks that provide the exact same service.

If google fire you, you can close your company and fire all your employees.


No, they won’t. They can close any accounts without a notice or reason.

https://www.helpwithmybank.gov/help-topics/bank-accounts/ope...


"If you believe your account was wrongfully closed, you can file a written complaint with the Office of the Comptroller's (OCC) Customer Assistance Group."


Yes, and with Google you can also appeal. Problem is the same, though - you don’t know why the decision was made and don’t have the full view of the problem.


What do they do with the balance in the account when that happens?


Nah, if they suspect you of fraud they're barely allowed to talk to you outside of confirming your account has been suspended




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: