Google has agreed to pay $100 million to end a multi-year class action lawsuit accusing it of overcharging advertisers. The agreement, filed in a federal San Jose, California court, ends a 14-year dispute pending judicial approval. Reuters reports.
Allegations and details of the settlement
Advertisers who worked with Google AdWords (now Google Ads) between January 1, 2004, and December 13, 2012, claimed that the company breached the terms of the contract by manipulating the “reasonable pricing” mechanism and reducing the promised discounts. The agreement reached on Thursday covers this particular group. Although Google did not admit the violation, company spokesman Jose Castaneda said: “This involves features that were changed more than a decade ago, and we are pleased to close this case.”
Lengthy process and costs
The lawsuit was protracted due to the volume of evidence: the parties provided more than 910 thousand pages of documents and several terabytes of click data, holding six mediation sessions with four mediators. The plaintiffs’ lawyers can claim a third of the settlement as a fee, as well as $4.2 million in costs, reflecting the process’s complexity.
