Google 'task force' blocks tens of millions of fraudulent COVID-19 ads
02 May, 2020
Google said Thursday its task force devoted to fighting “bad” ads hawking bogus coronavirus cures, illegitimate unemployment benefits and overpriced medical supplies had blocked tens of an incredible number of messages.
Google has blocked and removed coronavirus-related marketing pitches lately for policy violations including price-gouging and misleading claims, according to advertisings privacy and safety vice president Scott Spencer.
“We've a dedicated COVID-19 task force working night and day building new detection technology and bettering our existing enforcement systems to stop bad actors,” Spencer said in a blog page post.
“These concerted efforts will work.”
With health worries pervasive all over the world, guarding against efforts to take benefit of persons through pandemic-themed online advertisings is important, according to Spencer.
Google said it's been watching closely to promote abuses taking benefit of the crisis since the COVID-19 outbreak started.
Deceptive ads have often been the work of “sophisticated actors wanting to evade our enforcement systems with advanced tactics,” Spencer said.
He gave the exemplory case of a sharp spike in advertisings offering coveted supplies such as face masks at inflated prices made to entice online orders that should never be filled.
Alphabet-owned Google includes a clear interest in protecting the integrity of the web advertising platform that's its money-making engine.
Google this past year blocked and removed 2.7 billion “bad ads” and suspended practically a million advertising makes up about policy violations, according to Spencer.
The California-based internet firm assembled a team this past year to track signs of phishing or trickery regarding clicking on links, cutting the numbers of such “bad ads” by 50 percent due to this fact, Spencer said.
Google says it blocked more than 35 million phishing advertisings and 19 million “trick-to-click” ads last year.
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