How Google Blocked 348 Million Ads in 2022 to Create a Safer Advertising Ecosystem

Google has just announced that it blocked a whopping 348 million ads in 2022 for violating its ad policies. Misrepresentation is the reason 142 million ads were removed while 198 million were taken down for the violation of financial service policies. These numbers are truly impressive as they are a testament to Google’s commitment to the maintenance of a safe and trustworthy advertising ecosystem.

The impact these blocked ads have is quite significant on both businesses and users, and it is very crucial to understand the potential implications of such large-scale ad blocking.

Users get an improvement on their overall experience with reduced exposure to false advertisement and harmful content. Businesses on the other hand, have no such luck. Businesses may end up feeling the negative impact on their profit resulting from their ads being taken down.

Another reason for these recent actions, according to Google, is because “SCAMMERS ARE ON THE RISE”.

See Google’s Statements:

“For example, at the end of 2022 and into the new year, we faced a targeted campaign of scammers creating thousands of accounts to spread malware by impersonating popular software brands”

“When we identify these coordinated threats, we urgently assess the situation and take action. In this example, we quickly identified how scammers were spreading their malware and put additional restrictions to block their ability to harm consumers. Over a one-month period, we blocked and removed tens of thousands of malicious advertisements and took action against the accounts associated with the bad ads”

“We’ve also developed an industry-leading policy against climate change denial. In 2022, we blocked ads from running on over 300,000 publisher pages that violated these policies and blocked over 24 million policy-violating ads from serving. In addition, we blocked and removed over 51.2 million ads for inappropriate content including hate speech, violence, and harmful health claims, and 20.6 million ads for dangerous products or services such as weapons and explosives.” 

These statements were directly from the Google ad safety report. The Google Ad Safety Report is an annual report that details how Google faired in its process of creating a safer experience for users in the ad ecosystem the year prior.

The sheer number of ads blocked by Google in 2022 truly is remarkable. While it may have some impact on the profits of businesses, it is however necessary to ensure are protected from false and harmful content. Google’s determination to maintain its users’ trust is admirable and going forward, there are high hopes for continual developments.