Google cracked down on 2.3 billion bad ads last year

Google published its yearly look at "bad ads" on Thursday, detailing how the company fought bad advertising practices in 2018.

In total, the search giant took down 2.3 billion ads that violated its advertising policies last year. That’s more than 6 million bad ads removed every day.

This number is down from the previous year when Google reported it eliminated 3.2 billion ads from its network.

Google also terminated its relationship with nearly one million bad advertiser accounts and almost 734,000 publishers and app developers -- close to double the amount from 2017. The company also removed ads from nearly 28 million webpages and 1.5 million apps.

In the report, Google details specific industries and niches that require specific new ad policies in 2018. The company provides examples such as for-profit bail bond providers, which it bans from advertising through its ad network. Google says the decision was made due to evidence that these providers take advantage of vulnerable communities. The company removed more than 531,000 ads for bail bonds last year.

In total, Google created 31 new ad policies to stop bad ads in problematic areas related to cryptocurrency, ticket resellers, third-party tech support, and local services such as bail bonds and addiction treatment facilities. For example, the company now bans ads promoting addiction treatment services unless the advertiser is a certified addiction treatment provider. It also removed around 58.8 million advertisements for phishing scams from its network.

When it comes to fake news and the political sphere, Google shares that it had verified 143,000 election advertisements in the U.S., thanks to a new policy it rolled out last year. The company took down ads from around 1.2 million pages, 22,000 apps, and 15,000 sites for violating policies related to misinformation and hateful or low quality content.

The company also announced a new policy manager for its Google Ads program in order to help advertisers create ads that comply with its advertising policies.

The internet is full of scam artists and malicious actors searching for targets. Google’s course of action to deter bad advertisers and publishers from its networks is fairly simple: remove their economic incentives. The company seems to be doing a good job at removing ads that break its rules. The real challenge going forward, judging by Google's updated policies, is keeping up with the evolving ways of these malicious actors.