Google removed 3.1 billion of misleading advertising in the year of the pandemic

ROME. In 2020, Google intercepted and removed over 3.1 billion misleading advertisements, equivalent to approximately 5,900 ads per second. A figure in huge growth compared to 10 years ago given that the web giant in 2011 had blocked just 130 million malicious ads. This is what emerges from the new “Ads Safety report”, the annual report that tells the continuous commitment of the Google teams to counteract harmful use of the internet and analyzes the work done to create a safer experience for people while surfing online. and display advertisements on Google platforms. The company has also blocked more than 99 million Covid-related ads worldwide including those advertising alleged miracle cures, N95 face masks due to supply shortages, and recently doses of fake vaccines. In addition to this, Google has restricted another 6.4 billion “risky” advertisements and stopped running ads on more than 1.6 million sites containing widespread infringements. “In 2020, our policies and their enforcement have been severely tested. The world has gone through a global pandemic at the same time, several political elections in many countries, a continuous struggle is underway to counter the bad guys looking for new ways to take advantage of people online – explains the company in an official post -. We continue to remain vigilant, monitoring the behavior of malicious individuals ». Google explains that over the years it has invested in automated detection technology to effectively crawl the web and as a result has gone from blocking 130 million malicious ads in 2011 to 3.1 billion misleading ads in 2020. research also explains in the report that it made an investment in hate content control that helped prevent monetization, acting on “nearly 168 million pages per base.” Finally, during the election period, it blocked ads on more than 3 billion searches that referred to the elections.