is this violation of TOS?

[h3k27]

I came across from YM bot sending me a message to visit a website w/ their URL included..(and yes I did visit that website)

Can this be violation of TOS in "Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects"?

[Sobriquet]

Yes this is against TOS.

I had asked adsense people.

[ebuilder]

What is a YM Bot?

[hyperkik]

A program to send automated / spam messages through Yahoo Messenger.

[h3k27]

Well in my point of view, it depends on what the bot message is...

Its just a marketing strategy and it depends on the user if he will click on the Adsense ads found in the website

[jomaxx]

I think it more fits in the category of "publishers may not bring unnatural attention to sites displaying ads through unsolicited mass emails". It's not exactly an email, but IM spam is no better than email spam.