Google removed or blocked more than 5.2 billion ads last year because they violated the rules of the tech company. For example, they advertised a dangerous product or secretly tried to spread a virus. It amounts to 9,000 deletions per minute, Google reports Wednesday.
The number of deletions is rising rapidly. In 2021, 3.4 billion expressions were deleted, and in 2020 3.1 billion. In addition, Google blocked 17 million ads related to the war in Ukraine.
According to Google, more and more advertisements try to scam people, for example, by making them believe that they can invest money in bitcoins. “Despite our constant efforts, those in bad faith operate ever smarter and on a larger scale. They use all kinds of tactics to evade our detection methods.” For example, around the turn of the year, Google saw a lot of ads supposedly from well-known software companies. If people fell for it, they installed malicious software.
Google removed 51.2 million ads for discrimination, violence and harmful health claims. In addition, more than 20 million advertisements for weapons and explosives have been deleted.
The number of suspensions is also increasing. Google suspended 6.7 million advertiser accounts last year for breaking the rules. In 2021 this happened to 5.6 million accounts, and the year before, to 1.7 million.
Google also announced on Wednesday that it would introduce a new service where people can find more information about advertisers. For example, in the Ads Transparency Center, users can see what other ads an agency have placed and where they were seen. If it’s not right, users can report the ad so Google can take action. They can also block advertisements for themselves so they no longer see them.
