Boy, 12, gets €100k bill from Google after confusing Adwords with Adsense
A child in Spain has received a bill of €100,000 from Google after confusing its AdWords and AdSense services.
José Javier, 12, had signed up for Google's AdWords programme in order to make money from advertisements placed alongside YouTube videos of his band, the Torrevieja llamada Los Salerosos – en inglés, the Torrevieja Fun Guys – named after the Alicante town in which he lives.
Unfortunately for the young musician, Google's AdWords programme is for those wishing to advertise at cost, rather than run advertisements for profit. According to a report Spanish daily El País, José and a friend planned to buy instruments, play music, get rich and buy a mansion by subscribing to the service. According to El País, after the story hit the press Google's Spanish offices sent out a statement regarding the billing, explaining that the megacorporation's team has "analysed the case", and not only hasn't received payment from the family, but will proceed to cancel the outstanding balance on its Adwords service.
