Google’s AI takes aim at online scams

Google has released its annual Ads Safety Report, detailing its efforts to safeguard the digital advertising ecosystem and maintain a healthy ad-supported internet. The report underscores the growing influence of generative AI (Gen AI) in the industry, emphasising both its potential for ad optimisation and the challenges it presents.

“Billions of people rely on Google products for relevant and trustworthy information, including ads,” says Duncan Lennox, VP & GM of Ads Privacy and Safety. “That’s why we have thousands of people working around the clock to enforce our advertiser and publisher policies.”

A key theme of the report is the impact of Gen AI. Google acknowledges its potential for improving ad targeting and enforcement, but also emphasises on the need to address potential misuse.

“Our teams are embracing Gen AI, specifically Large Language Models (LLMs), so that we can better keep people safe online,” the report highlights. LLMs are a type of AI adept at analysing large amounts of text data, allowing for more nuanced content understanding and improved enforcement of complex policies like those against misleading financial claims.

The report acknowledges the rise of online scams and details Google’s efforts to combat them. This includes:

Limited Ads Serving: A new policy designed to limit the reach of unfamiliar advertisers who might be engaging in fraudulent activity.
Rapid Response Teams: Dedicated teams to address emerging threats like deep fake-powered scams.
Policy Updates and Enforcement: Updates to the misrepresentation and financial services policies, alongside the removal of billions of ads violating these policies.

Investing in Election Integrity

The report also emphasises Google’s commitment to election integrity. It details measures like:

Verification and Transparency Requirements: Rigorous verification for election advertisers and clear labelling of election ads.
Removal of Unverified Ads: Over 7.3 million election ads removed in 2023 from advertisers who failed verification.
Disclosure for Synthetic Content: A new requirement for disclosing the use of synthetic media in election ads.

The report highlights Google’s progress in enforcing its policies:

Blocked or Removed Ads: Over 5.5 billion ads blocked or removed in 2023, a slight increase from the previous year.
Suspended Accounts: Nearly 12.7 million advertiser accounts suspended, nearly double the prior year.
AI-Powered Enforcement: Over 90% of publisher page-level enforcement actions initiated by machine learning models, including LLMs.

The report concludes by acknowledging the dynamic nature of online advertising and Google’s commitment to continuous improvement. “When it comes to ads safety, a lot can change over the course of a year,” the report states, adding, “We are confident that our investments in policy, detection and enforcement will prepare us for any challenges ahead.”

“Our goal is to catch bad ads and suspend fraudulent accounts before they make it onto our platforms or remove them immediately once detected. AI is improving our enforcement on all fronts. In 2023, we blocked or removed over 5.5 billion ads, slightly up from the prior year, and 12.7 million advertiser accounts, nearly double from the previous year. Similarly, we work to protect advertisers and people by removing our ads from publisher pages and sites that violate our policies, such as sexually explicit content or dangerous products. In 2023, we blocked or restricted ads from serving on more than 2.1 billion publisher pages, up slightly from 2022. We are also getting better at tackling pervasive or egregious violations. We took broader site-level enforcement action on more than 395,000 publisher sites, up markedly from 2022,” the report reveals.

In 2023, Google launched the Ads Transparency Center, a searchable hub of all ads from verified advertisers, which helps people quickly and easily learn more about the ads they see on Search, YouTube and Display.