Google came down hard against online fraud and banned a total of 780 million bad advertisements from online networks. The 2015 clean up of online frauds and scams included the ban of over 30,000 sites of weight loss scams and those with misleading weight loss claims. Weight loss scams, among others, have been a growing concern due to increased interest among consumers to achieve and maintain wellness.
The Guardian reported Google's action was implemented in the wake of complaints and criticisms by legitimate advertisers. Google subsequently focused their war in 2015 on online fraud upon sites that carry malware, scam with fake goods and steal or phish personal information for financial cons. As a result, Google's discovery and shut-down of bad advertisements increased by 50% more than 2014.
For 2016, Google promises to increase efforts in sussing out and stopping bots, which have been plaguing cyberspace by impersonating real internet users and copying their online habits and behaviors. Google ads and commerce senior vice president Sridhar Ramaswamy laid out what's in store for the year in a blog post.
"In 2016, we're planning updates like further restricting what can be advertised as effective for weight loss, and adding new protections against malware and bots," Ramaswamy said. "We want to make sure all the ads you see are helpful and welcome and we'll keep fighting to make that a reality."
"Through a combination of computer algorithms and people at Google reviewing ads, we're able to block the vast majority of these bad ads before they ever get shown," Ramaswamy further explained. "We've invested in sophisticated technology and a global team of 1,000-plus people dedicated to fighting bad ads."
Google did not just ban existing bad advertisements and online frauds but also rejected around a million and a half applications from both websites and app developers, who are non-compliant with essential policies, especially security policies.
As Business Insider reports, among the figures that resulted from Google's security activities, here are a few from Ramaswamy:
- Ads on more than 25,000 mobile apps that violated policies were stopped by Google.
- Over 17 million ads such as system-related warnings, misleading and forcing people to click on them, were rejected by Google.
- Google suspended over 10,000 sites and 18,000 accounts for selling or attempting to sell fake goods.
- Over 12.5 million ads that violated Google's rules on promoting healthcare and medical products were blocked.
- Over 30,000 sites of weight loss scams that made fake or misleading weight-loss claims were banned by Google.
- Google blocked close to 7,000 sites that phished personal information from users.
