Google has agreed to pay $11 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it improperly withheld unpaid amounts in publishers’ AdSense accounts after Google terminated their accounts for an alleged breach of contract.

If you were an AdSense publisher between May 20, 2010 and May 7, 2018, and Google disabled your AdSense account and withheld the unpaid amounts in your account, you may be entitled to benefits from the Google class action settlement.

Plaintiffs Free Range Content Inc., a California corporation, filed the AdSense class action lawsuit in 2014, claiming Google wrongfully denied payments to thousands of website operators who use AdSense to post ads on their websites.

Free Range Content claims Google shut down its AdSense accounts shortly before their payment was due. The AdSense class action lawsuit included claims of breach of contract, bad faith, unjust enrichment and unjust compensation.







In February 2015, Google successfully moved to have the AdSense class action lawsuit dismissed by a California federal judge. The judge allowed Free Range Content to file an amended AdSense class action lawsuit with additional facts showing how Google’s allegedly wrongful conduct was not simply a result of the company exercising its right to terminate accounts and withhold payment.

Google denies all wrongdoing but agreed to settle the AdSense class action lawsuit to avoid the burden and expense of ongoing litigation. Under the terms of the proposed AdSense class action settlement, Google will pay $11 million to AdSense account holders who lost at least $10 for accounts that were closed by Google since May 2010.

Class Members who would like to opt out of or object to the Google AdSense settlement must do so no later than Sept. 4, 2018.