Like most companies, Google Ads would prefer that it not be sued in a court of law. Despite the fact that the Bill of Rights (7th Amendment) and most state constitutions give you a right to a jury trial, big business has successfully managed to use arbitration to avoid being exposed to a jury of citizens. The way companies like Google do this is that they bury the arbitration agreement (and class action waiver) in “terms and conditions” which you are required to agree to (by clicking a box).
In the “fine print” of Google’s terms and conditions, however, they buried a way to opt out of arbitration. Every consumer of Google Ads should opt out. Here’s how to do it:
The terms and conditions provide:
F. 30-day opt out period. Customer (both for itself and for any Advertiser that Customer represents) and Advertiser have the right to opt out of this Dispute Resolution Agreement. A Customer or Advertiser who does not wish to be bound by this Dispute Resolution Agreement (including its waiver of class and representative claims) must notify Google as set forth below within 30 days of the first acceptance date of any version of these Terms containing an arbitration provision (unless a longer period is required by applicable law). Customer’s or Advertiser’s notice to Google under this subsection must be submitted via webform available at ads.google.com/nav/arbitration. An opt-out notice does not revoke or otherwise affect any previous arbitration agreement between Customer and Google or between Advertiser and Google.
Google LLC Advertising Program Terms at Para. 13F
In short, within 30 days of first accepting the terms, the customer must go to ads.google.com/nav/arbitration to opt out of arbitration.
