Among the main reasons are abuse of the ad network, adult content, use of trademarks, inappropriate content and gambling
Google removed over 3.4 billion ads in 2021 globally. In addition, it restricted more than 5.7 billion, taking into account content that is legally or culturally sensitive depending on the region, and suspended more than 5.6 million advertiser accounts, triple what it had done in 2020. The data are in the online advertising safety report that the company has just released.
Among the main reasons for blocking or removing ads are ad network abuse, adult content, use of trademarks, inappropriate content and gambling.
The tech giant said it also blocked ads that would target more than 1.7 billion individual publisher pages. And yet it has taken “severe” measures against 63,000 publisher sites that have demonstrated “widespread or egregious violations”.
The results, according to the company, are part of ongoing efforts, such as creating or updating more than 30 policies throughout 2021 for advertisers and publishers, including a new “notice” system for repeated violations and a policy that prohibits speeches that deny climate change.
ukrainian war
Although the data is from 2021, Google wanted to show proactivity and presented a clipping of what it has been doing to curb ads about the war in Ukraine.
According to the platform, more than 8 million ads related to the invasion have already been blocked, following the sensitive events policy, which seeks to prevent people or brands from profiting or exploiting the situation. The company also cut demonetization of more than 60 Russian government-backed media websites.
“In 2022, we will continue to work on areas subject to breaches on our platforms and on our network, always with the aim of protecting users and supporting serious and trustworthy advertisers and publishers. Increasing transparency and control over the ads people see is a critical part of that goal,” promised Scott Spencer, vice president of product ad privacy and security at Google.
