WebProNews

Criticism met Google's proposed changes to the program. Publishers located in countries disallowed from netting AdSense referrals complained about being penalized despite having referrals come from visitors located in North America, Japan, or Latin America.

Google disclosed an adjustment to the proposed plan in response to the feedback they received. Said the AdSense blog:

The changes to referrals promoting AdSense will now depend on where your users are located, regardless of your location as a publisher. You'll earn $100 for every user you refer to AdSense who is located in North America, Latin America or Japan when they generate $100 in AdSense revenue within 180 days and they remove all payment holds. You'll no longer be paid for users you refer who are located elsewhere. These changes will go into effect the last week of January.

Google will also change a couple of other referrals. Google Pack referrals that used to generate up to $2 will only return up to $1 starting the third week of February. During the same week, Google plans to reduce referrals for Firefox when those referrals come from China.