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Google Expected to Settle Over Drug Ads, to the Tune of $500M

Posted by timothy on from the don't-worry-the-government-is-here dept.

Animats writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that 'Google Inc. is close to settling a US criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online pharmacies that break US laws.' Google's acceptance of ads from unlicensed 'online pharmacies' is considered profiting from illegal activity. The Washington Post reports 'the inquiry could draw more attention to how vulnerable Google's automated system has been to the machinations of shady operators.'" The expected settlement's magnitude was hinted at in a recent SEC filing, which disclosed that Google has set aside a half-billion dollar fund on which to draw in this case.

6 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Go go Google by drinkypoo · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Looks like this is about Google refusing to stop advertising sites in Canada selling prescription meds to people without a prescription. In other words, this is about Big Pharma vs. YOU.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Go go Google by dargaud · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If a pharmacy sells prescription meds without a prescription, they should have their license revoked and it doesn't matter where they are. If a non-pharmacy sells meds... then the laboratory that sells it to them should have its license revoked !

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    2. Re:Go go Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Overuse of antibiotics leads to less effective antibiotics. So the effectiveness is a common resource which is not yours alone to squander.

      Anything else though should be fair game.

    3. Re:Go go Google by SilentStaid · · Score: 2, Insightful

      His point was that if you allow people to take antibiotics when they're unnecessary you'll exponentially increase the rate at which bacteria, for example. will grow resistant. Forgive me for the tired saying, but it's a very slippery slope and it's one that affects us all...

      So who the fuck are you, sir, to complain about using something that you clearly don't understand?

  2. Re:Sigh by poptones · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ayup. Just one more example of how corporations as people is a failed idea from the start. If an individual did this that person would be locked up in the pokey for a few years where their earning potential would be substantially more reduced.

    Perhaps if we reformed the law so that coporations who so overtly break laws would be punished by, say, having to turn over ALL their profits for the next X months to the government as penalty - I bet far mroe corporations would reconsider such nose-thumbing.

  3. Re:Made Billions by walshy007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You think advertising spending alone for illegal drugs is billions? really? think about it.

    This is kind of like a pharma doing shady things posting an advertisement in the paper, then the government fining the paper for accepting the advertising when the company shown was dodgy.

    Unless google has specific legal obligations as an advertiser, the company that put the ad forward should be held accountable for their actions not google.

    baddies putting ads out makes it easier for cops to catch them, so why punish the advertisers?