Google AdSense Cancels Massive Number Of Accounts Over Inactivity
Over the past 24 hours or so, Google seems to have cancelled a massive number of Google AdSense accounts. Emails are going to these publishers that read "Your Google AdSense account was recently cancelled."
Of course, this is causing major panic in the support forums. In fact, when I logged into my own account, I see a violation notice but when I click on it to take action, it says there are no violations.
Here is a screen shot of the email many publishers are receiving:
Here is the violation notice:
When I click through, it says "You have no account level policy violations on record. Thank you!"
There are tons and tons of complaints on this on Twitter and mostly in the Google AdSense Help forums.
A top contributor in the forum implied this is a bug. He wrote:
We (I am talking as Top Contributor who are not Google employees) have no updates on this "Problem".
It seems like a big issue and I am sure a TC/Google themselves will update people when we/they have more information.
No word from Google yet on this.
Forum discussion at Google AdSense Help.
Update: Google posted a new message explaining these account closures were done because these accounts were inactive for a really long time. Google wrote:
Some of our publishers received a message from us today regarding an account closure. We’ve closed these accounts because they have been inactive for a while. Please note that active accounts have not been affected.
If you received this message and would like to reactivate your AdSense account, please reapply by logging into your Google Account and then visiting www.google.com/adsense.
Here is an account closure email I received today at 1:45pm ET on an AdSense account I no longer use and haven't used in over 10 years:
Google AdSense has closed many inactive accounts on July 4th
Top news and emerging ideas in display advertising, delivered every Monday.
On July 4, 2016, Google sent out an unusually large number of notifications to Google AdSense publishers that their accounts have been canceled. Google just informed us that these account cancellations were done because those accounts had been inactive for a long time.
Google said in a forum post that “some of our publishers received a message from us today regarding an account closure. We’ve closed these accounts because they have been inactive for a while.” “Please note that active accounts have not been affected,” Google added.
Here is a picture of what many of these publishers received from Google yesterday, informing them their accounts were canceled:
So what does one do if their account was canceled, and they want to continue to use it? Google said, “If you received this message and would like to reactivate your AdSense account, please reapply by logging into your Google Account and then visiting www.google.com/adsense.”
Here is a copy of an email sent after Google changed how they notify people about this account closure. You can see that now, it specifically calls out inactivity as the reason:
Google Rolls Out New AdSense Settings and My Activity Page
As you already know, Google stores large volumes of data from its users. And now it wants to make it easier for you to control your data among your devices thru AdSense ads.
Wired reports that Google users will soon receive an opt-in update for security settings on Google services.
If you choose to opt in, you are giving Google permission to use all information associated with your account, including Google Search, Chrome, YouTube and other Google services.
Google will reportedly use the data gathered to provide better ads for you across the Web.
Previously, the Internet giant used data and cookies from its services to deliver customized ads. Now, it will expand this to AdSense ads across the Web.
The new setting will change it, with some real benefits.
Users who opt in will have better control on how ads work across devices that are signed into their Google account.
If your search for a particular term keeps following you across the Web, you can remove all its instances across the Web, rather than do it manually for all signed-in devices.
A more relevant update for daily use is the unified My Activity page for all Google services that deliver ads.
The My Activity page bundles all your history on Google Search, your video views on YouTube, your cards on Google Now, and sites you’ve visited that serve Google ads.
In Google Now, the history consists of cards for browsing or deleting. Or you can delete all items under a specific topic or date range.
The My Activity page links to other pages that show the data Google has collected, including device information, location, music ID and more.
Google promises to avoid from sharing user data and allow users to make changes with the type of information shared from the My Account page.
All things considered, it’s best that you keep settings as-is if you value data privacy, as Google will most likely gain more from this update.
If an all-inclusive search history and more granular control over ads makes you feel better, you’ve got the option to opt in.
As much as we’re all excited about using the new setting and My Activity page, the fine-tuning will roll out worldwide gradually in the coming months.
tags:adsense, google, google adsense
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