Google Intensifies Anti-Fraud Measures in 2024

In 2024, Google blocked over 39 million ad accounts, three times more than in 2023. This surge was part of an intensified campaign against ad fraud. The company employed artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLM), to detect suspicious activities like fake payment information and business impersonation. Most accounts were blocked before any ads were shown, as reported by TechCrunch.

Google implemented over 50 LLM-based enhancements to strengthen the security of its platforms. Concurrently, over 100 experts from various departments, including Ads Safety, Trust and Safety, and DeepMind, were involved in the verification process. Their focus was particularly on combating deepfake ads that featured public figures. This led to the blocking of over 700,000 accounts linked to such advertisements and a 90% reduction in complaints.

The majority of blocked accounts were in the USA — 39.2 million. Major violations included fraud in ad networks, trademark abuse, false medical claims, personalized advertising, and gambling. In the USA, Google also removed 1.8 billion ads.

The company paid special attention to electoral advertising — in 2024, it verified over 8,900 new advertisers and removed 10.7 million election ads. Overall, Google blocked 5.1 billion ads, removed 1.3 billion pages, and restricted the display of another 9.1 billion ads.

Google acknowledges that such high volumes of blocks raise questions about the fairness of decisions, which is why it introduced clearer communication with advertisers and a dispute mechanism that includes human review. The company believes that the reduction in harmful ads indicates the effectiveness of its new detection and blocking approaches.