You might be owed money back from Google Ads. Legally.
There have been two federal court rulings that found Google was running an illegal monopoly on advertising, and as a result Google is being forced to issue massive refunds to advertisers. In fact, they might owe you up to 30% of everything you spent on Google Ads over the past 10 years or so.
To give you an idea of the scale here, we ran the maths on one of my clients, and they could be owed a massive $5.4M refund from Google. The same could apply to your account.
The Legal Case In Plain English
Let me start with what actually happened, no jargon.
There were two separate court cases brought against Google by the U.S. Department of Justice. The first was about online Search advertising. In August 2024, a federal judge ruled that Google had illegally monopolised the Search advertising market. That covers everything you spend on Google Search ads.
The second case was about ad tech, which includes Display ads and the broader system Google uses to sell ad inventory across the web. In April 2025, a different federal judge ruled that Google had also illegally monopolised that side of the business.
So between the two rulings, you now have federal courts saying Google ran an illegal monopoly on both Search ads and Display ads.
Here is why that matters financially. When a company has monopoly pricing power, it can charge more than it would in a competitive market. That is the whole reason monopolies are illegal in the first place; they raise prices on everyone. The argument now being made is that Google used that monopoly position to overcharge advertisers for years, and the estimated overcharge is around 10% of spend.
So if you spent a million dollars on Google Ads, the claim is that roughly one hundred thousand of that was an illegal overcharge.
Now here is where it becomes really interesting. Under U.S. federal antitrust law, successful claimants don't just recover the overcharge. They are awarded treble damages, which means three times the actual overcharge.
So that 10% overcharge becomes a 30% claim ceiling. If you spent a million on Google Ads, your claim ceiling is around three hundred thousand dollars.
I want to be careful with the language here, because nothing about this is guaranteed. It is a ceiling. It is the maximum you could potentially claim, and the actual settlement could be lower. But the ceiling itself is real, and it is based on federal law, not on marketing hype from a law firm.
Are You Eligible?
The next obvious question is whether you are actually eligible. Let's go through it carefully.
The basic eligibility criteria are pretty simple. You need to have spent money on Google Ads, either Search or Display or both, in the U.S. market anytime from August 2016 to the present day. That is the qualifying window.
There is no minimum spend. Businesses of any size qualify, from a tiny store spending a few thousand a year all the way up to enterprises spending millions.
But here is the very important caveat, and I want to be really clear about it. This particular program is U.S.-specific. The law firm filing these claims is filing on behalf of U.S. advertisers, for spend that happened in the U.S. market.
If you ran U.S.-targeted campaigns from outside the U.S., it may still be worth checking, because what matters here is the market your ads ran in, not where your business is headquartered. But if your spend was entirely outside the U.S., say you only ran ads in the UK, or Australia, or Europe, then this program almost certainly does not apply to you.
I'm saying this clearly because I know many of my readers are based outside the U.S., and plenty of you are nonetheless targeting the U.S. with your Google Ads. If that is you, I'd recommend speaking to local legal counsel in your country to understand your specific eligibility and whether or not you should file a claim. There could be similar actions brewing in other jurisdictions, but this specific program is for U.S. spend.
One more thing worth flagging. There is no upfront cost to file a claim through this program. The law firm running it is working on contingency, which means they are only paid if they win. So from your side, the cost of registering is essentially just your time. You add up your spend, you sign up, and the firm does the heavy lifting from there.
Work Out Your Own Number
Here is the part I think you'll find most useful: the simple maths to work out your own claim ceiling.
Step one is to find your total Google Ads spend in the U.S. market from August 2016 to today. Go into Google Ads and set a date range from 1st August 2016 all the way up to the present day. Make sure your filters are set to look at all campaigns, not just enabled campaigns, because an enabled-only filter would not give you the full picture. Then check the total spend number you now see in Google.
Step two is to calculate 30% of that number. Just open your calculator, take the spend number, and multiply by 0.3.
Step three, that's it. That is your claim ceiling. That is the entire calculation.
I ran the calculations for my clients, and here is what I can tell you. Even smaller advertisers spending just $5K per month on Google could be due around $200K in refunds, assuming they have been advertising the whole time since August 2016. My larger clients who spend six figures plus per month, well, they could be owed seven or even eight-figure payouts in some cases.
I really encourage you to actually run this calculation today. Even if you are not sure you want to file, just knowing the size of the potential claim is useful information and will help you decide.
The Filing Process
Let's say you've run the calculation, you have your number, and you want to file. Here is what to do.
The main law firm filing these claims is called Keller Postman, a major U.S. litigation firm. They announced on 11 May 2026 that they are now representing thousands of U.S. businesses in this action. The total claims they are filing add up to over $218 billion, which makes it the largest mass arbitration campaign ever filed by dollar value. So this is not some fly-by-night operation; this is a major firm with serious resources going up against Google.
To register your business, there are two websites you can use. The first is https://adsrefund.com/ and the second is https://adclaimfiling.com/. Both are official registration portals for the Keller Postman program. You go in, you provide your business details and your Google Ads spend numbers, and the firm takes it from there. Again, there is no upfront cost. The firm works on contingency, so they only take a cut if and when a settlement is reached.
A quick reminder for my international readers. If your spend was entirely outside the U.S. market, this specific program is not the right fit. If you are based outside the USA but your business was targeting the USA in its Google Ads account, you might be good to claim, but I would seek legal counsel in your home country first.
A Quick Reality Check
Before we wrap up, I want to give you a quick reality check so you have the full picture.
I have been deliberately careful throughout to say things like "could be owed", "claim ceiling", and "up to 30%", and I've done that for a reason. Nothing about this is guaranteed. The court rulings are real. The overcharge estimate is based on real expert analysis. The treble damages provision is real federal law. But the actual settlement amount, what claimants actually receive at the end of all of this, is still going to be determined through the arbitration process.
It could come in close to the 30% ceiling. It could come in significantly lower. Or in a worst case, it could be settled in a way that doesn't benefit individual claimants very much at all. So please don't bank on this money, and don't make business decisions today based on a settlement that hasn't happened yet.
But equally, and this is the bit I really want you to hear, if you are an eligible business and you haven't even checked your number, you are potentially leaving real money on the table. The downside is essentially zero. There is no upfront cost. It takes five minutes to calculate your number and another ten minutes to register. If a settlement happens, you receive a share. If it doesn't, you've lost nothing but a few minutes of your time. That is about as low-risk as opportunities of this magnitude come along in business.
Go and check your potential claim amount today.
Conclusion
Two federal court rulings have found that Google illegally monopolised both Search advertising (August 2024) and ad tech, including Display (April 2025). The argument now being made is that Google overcharged advertisers by roughly 10% of spend, and under U.S. federal antitrust law, treble damages triple that into a claim ceiling of around 30% of your total spend.
You are potentially eligible if you spent money on Google Ads, Search or Display, in the U.S. market from August 2016 to today, with no minimum spend. The program is U.S.-specific, so purely non-U.S. spend almost certainly does not qualify, and international advertisers targeting the U.S. should check with local legal counsel.
To find your own claim ceiling, pull your total Google Ads spend from 1 August 2016 to today (across all campaigns, not just enabled ones) and multiply by 0.3. The law firm Keller Postman is running the action on contingency with no upfront cost, filing over $218 billion in total claims, and you can register at adsrefund.com or adclaimfiling.com. Nothing is guaranteed, so don't bank on the money, but with near-zero downside it is well worth checking your number today.