Over the course of the Search Engine Strategies Chicago conference last week Search Engine Journal covered the Google AdSense Clickfraud Botnet story broken by WebmasterRadio.fm’s Jim Hedger which claims that click fraud is rampant, action is not being done to stop it, Google is not blocking IP addresses from the restricted blacklist of spammers, AdSense and some of the people commiting click fraud are associated with the funding of Iraqi insurgents and Hezbollah.
As an added bonus, working off the terror spin, I reported that Google advertisements are also being served in Orkut groups which are pro-Al Qaida, Jihad and Hezbollah wherein group members are using the Orkut network to recruit for the Jihad and boost public opinion for these groups.
In the piece I used a quick screen capture from an Orkut Al Qaida group which uses Osama Bin Ladin as its group’s logo and serves anti-US, pro Al Qaida and pro Jihad messages and uses aggressive tactics to spread those messages within Orkut groups.
There was a reaction among some bloggers that my claims were false as the example I used of Google AdWords ads being served in Orkut terror groups was false and the ads were actually Google public service announcements, that Google does not collect fees from such ‘advertisers’, and paid ads are not served within these groups.
While the example screenshot I used in the original post did include Google PSA ads, after refreshing some of these group pages there are many ads being served by paying Google AdWords advertisers such as eBay, AbeBooks, Harvard, BuildASign.com, Stanford and Caravan.com
I have no proof that these advertisers are paying Google for the clicks from these ads, but I cannot imagine the negative brand reputation which could result in the ‘Sponsorship” of Orkut groups such as Al Qaida, Hizbollah and JihadNet.
I also do feel that it is my responsibility to add that I am not posting these screen captures to negatively blast Google, which is not my intent. My relationship with Google over the years has been very open and responsive, furthermore I am a happy Google & Gmail user and Orkut member.
Orkut does seem to be doing some work to monitor & police its inner groups, but the policing of user generated content is not enough.
I am quite surprised that two days after the initial story was published, and ruffled some feathers, that these AdWords advertisements are still being served within Google’s Orkut.
Instead of attacking Google in any manner, I would rather like to pose the question; “Should Google AdWords advertisers be sponsoring Hate, Jihad and Terrorist sympathizer groups within the Orkut network, which is in affiliation with Google?”
(I have linked to these Orkut groups, but you must be a registered Google member to view them in action. Warning, for some this content in these groups could be shocking.)
Al Qaida : This community is for those people who are in favour of Al-Qaida and it’s mission i.e. “Crush all those powers which are against Muslims and Islam”
Islam teaches us that all muslims are brothers so we must feel for our brothers who are in great trouble like in Iraq, Kashmir, Pallestine and Afghanistan.So for what we are waiting for we must stop those powers by FORCE from doing so. If we kept close our eyes more likely tomorrow will be our turn. So wake up Muslims it’s time to Jehad.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrollah : Sayyed Hassan Nasrollah is the leader of Hezbollah (Islamic resistance movement) in Lebanon.
Hizbollah Orkut Groups
Jihad-A muslim’s Obligation
JihadNet
Hamas : “Palestine movement is there motive…Palestine is their dream…We are their hope……Long Live Hamas”
