Google removed more than 3.2 billion ads last year

Google has revealed that it had more than 3.2 billion ads removed in 2017 for failing to comply with the search giant’s advertising policies. This concerned, for example, advertisements that internet users sent to malware sites.

According to Google, the removal of 3.2 billion ads means it was able to remove the majority of the so-called “bad ads” before they negatively impacted Internet users. This includes advertisements that are used for malware and phishing. Google claims it has removed 79 million ads that sent people to malware websites and 400,000 of those sites have been removed.

The company also reports that 66 million so-called trick-to-click ads have been removed and 48 million ads have been removed that attempted to install unwanted software on the website visitor’s computer. In addition, 320,000 publishers have been removed from Google’s advertising network and 90,000 websites have been blacklisted. Also 700,000 mobile apps have been removed.

The number of more than 3.2 billion ads removed is almost double the number of ads removed in 2016. At that time, there were still 1.7 billion advertisements, compared to 780 million in 2015. It is not clear whether this increase means that Google has increased its efforts to combat ‘bad ads’ in 2017. The company says 2017 was able to remove more ads at a faster rate, thanks in part to new technology.

In addition to removing ads that, according to Google, violate its own advertising policy, the search giant has also addressed websites since last August if they show annoying ads. The company does this because these kinds of ads are said to be the main reason for using ad blockers.