Roll Over, Sergey Brin – Google Gets Dark and Kafkaesque

I live in China. The four o’clock knock came as an innocuous beep on my Android phone. I rolled over in bed, pressed the screen to show the message. The heavy boot of Big Brother pressed down firmly on my neck.

But the message did not come from public security. It came, surprisingly, from Google Adwords.

“Hello AdWords Advertiser,” said the message in a cheery, metallic voice. “Your AdWords account has been suspended because it doesn’t comply with our Advertising Policies and our AdWords Terms and Conditions.

“Please note that this means your account and any related accounts have been suspended, you can’t create any new accounts, and your ads will no longer run on Google, our search partners or on Display Network placements.”

And so began my adventures in the sinister and Kafkaesque of world the Adwords ban.

Head to Agendabeijing.com for the full story.