If you’re any sort of advertiser or digital marketer, you’ve probably come across or had to use Google Analytics, the world’s most widely used Analytics tool, and Google Ads, the dominant search advertising platform that funds Google’s monopolistic ventures.
This article is dedicated to providing direct evidence that Google is intentionally banning advertisers from it’s platform that use Google Analytics direct competitor, a tool formerly called Piwik but now marketed under Matomo.
Inside of Google Ads platform, search ads are judged according to robotic policy, and in today’s case, Ads that direct to websites that have Matomo installed (the analytics tool) are being banned via a “Malicious Software” Policy.
This is actually a known issue in Matomo’s documentation and in their support threads.
Apparently Matomo users have been experiencing this ban since 2019, despite claims from Google that this has been fixed.
What are the consequences of this ban? Likely losses of revenue in the 6 and 7 figures, depending on how many ad accounts have been affected by this.
Or how about this comment:
Link to this thread here:
https://forum.matomo.org/t/adwords-campaign-rejected-for-google-matomo-javascript-is-a-malware/35131
Here is another popular online tweet showcasing this issue is being experienced worldwide.
This is a screenshot from their development team contacting Google, trying to remediate this issue. Apparently their communications have fallen on deaf ears.
Why is this such an issue?
If Google can ban companies at will from using it’s advertising platform, which is a major source of revenue for many organizations, then they effectively have the ability to eradicate competitors from their Analytics market. In this case, Piwik / Matomo has been around for almost 2 decades with millions of installations, and yet, Google will ban any site that has Matomo installed.
Remember: Matomo is the only direct replacement or privacy-focused Analytics tool that can be self hosted – meaning that the data it collect ISN’T shared with Google.
In this case, Matomo has certainly lost revenue due to this ban, and a legal professional may be able to reveal that they are eligible for damages.
Matomos Official Documentation on this Issue
What does Google Ads Support Have to Say?
After we completely removed Matomo – via Google Tag Manager – any and all policies should be cleared and we can go back to advertising… right?
Incorrect.
On the 3rd support request with Google, their team scanned the infringing site with an internal tool:
The links they provided were as follows:
Here are the links detected by our system:
https://matomo.DELETEDFORPRIVACY/matomo.js,
https://matomo.DELETEDFORPRIVACY/matomo.php?action_name=Emergency%20Roadside%20Assistance%20for%20Truck%20and%20Trailers&idsite=3&rec=1&r=685745&h=4&m=55&s=53&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffastfleetrs.com%2Froadside%2F%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DAlpha-Nashville-Truck~Roadside%20Truck%20Repair%26gclid%3DEAIaIQobChMIwtqs5vSo8gIV4To4Ch2Ndg5sEAAYASAAEgIqJfD_BwE&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&_id=002dd13fcc15d070&_idn=1&_rcn=Alpha-Nashville-Truck~Roadside%20Truck%20Repair&_refts=1628682953&_ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&send_image=0&cookie=1&res=360×772&pv_id=rKUTRf&pf_net=79&pf_srv=950&pf_tfr=1,
https://matomo.DELETEDFORPRIVACY/plugins/HeatmapSessionRecording/configs.php?idsite=3&trackerid=0D8l0l&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffastfleetrs.com%2Froadside%2F%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DAlpha-Nashville-Truck~Roadside%20Truck%20Repair%26gclid%3DEAIaIQobChMIwtqs5vSo8gIV4To4Ch2Ndg5sEAAYASAAEgIqJfD_BwE
Except, support can’t verify if these are internal links or external links. They don’t provide any direction on how to remediate this other than recommend checking with the web developer.
But looking at the Javascript and tracking codes loaded on the page, there is no Matomo installation or JS loading anymore.
Notice, plenty of Google Products installed. No Matomo.
Upon further inquiry to find these links… we get another walled garden from Google.
I see… so not even Google’s outsourced support can actually give direction.
When explained to this support rep that we’ve
- removed Matomo
- Matomo isn’t installed on the site anymore
- the links they provided aren’t on the site
- and yet are banning the site for matomo not being on the site
They request to send us the security section of Google Search Console report, which shows the following:
Oddly enough… even Google’s webmaster tools and systems know that there isn’t any sort of Malicious Software.
Why is Google Ads permitted to do this to a competitor product?
Is Google Ads unfairly targeting and banning competitors to its products from being installed on advertisers sites? If this is a known issue and many users are experiencing it, why hasn’t Google done anything to fix this?
Status Quo for Google’s Antitrust behavior
“In the last decade, the EU has fined Google over €8 billion (around $9.5 billion) over various antitrust violations, Reuters previously noted.” (reuters.com)
Comments from the parties involved
We’ve reached out to the following parties for comment or feedback
- Matomo Support & Developers
- FTC Chairwomen Lina Khan
- Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law
- https://judiciary.house.gov/subcommittees/subcommittee/?SubcommitteeID=14930
- https://twitter.com/HouseJudiciary
