Google developed new policies to tackle fake news, while also banning a variety of other ads on its ad network, which is one of the strongest in the world.
Running one of the biggest ad networks in the world, Google has always had a program to manage scammers by banning their ads. In 2016, the Search giant took down as many as 1.7 million advertisements that were violating the ad network’s policies. This is two times the number of ads that Google banned in 2015.
These include ads that show you fake warning messages about system errors or malware. Known as “trick to click”, these ads are meant to get users to click on them believing that there are issues on their systems. Systems were developed by Google to detect such ads and 112 million of them were banned in 2016. This is 6 times the number banned in 2015.
Further, unauthorised ads also include those linked to gambling, 17 million of which were banned by Google in 2016. In addition, 68 million advertisements related to healthcare were also taken down by the ad network. Other banned ads include tabloid cloakers, which are ads leading to click-bait news stories that land on a different site altogether. Google also took down 1300 accounts that were related to such advertisements.
This is accompanied by the ban of sites promoting payday loans and suspending 8000 websites from the Internet altogether. 5 million payday loan ads were banned on Google’s ad networks. A new AdSense misrepresentative policy has also been introduced by Google, following the review of 500 websites suspected of publishing fake news. 200 publishers were completely kicked off Google’s network.
