(Image source from: REUTERS)

The technology powerhouse Google announced its decision to halt 2.9 million advertising accounts in India while eliminating 247.4 million ads in 2024 due to breaches of its advertising guidelines. As detailed in Google's Ads Safety Report, the primary infractions involved areas such as financial services, trademark misuse, the exploitation of the ad network, personalized advertisements, as well as gambling and gaming content. Globally, Google reported the suspension of over 39.2 million advertiser accounts, the restriction of upwards of 9.1 billion ads, and the removal of more than 5.1 billion ads throughout 2024.

In addition, the company highlighted that it implemented over 50 improvements to its large language models (LLMs) during 2024. These enhancements expedited intricate investigations, aiding in the detection of malicious actors and signs of fraud, including questionable payment details during the account registration process. Furthermore, Google has adjusted its defenses to counteract the rise of new scams, particularly those related to AI-generated impersonation ads featuring public figures, as mentioned in a blog post. The company formed a dedicated team of more than 100 specialists to devise strategies, which involved revising its misrepresentation policies to suspend advertisers promoting fraudulent activities, resulting in the permanent removal of 700,000 offending accounts. According to the company, this initiative contributed to a substantial 90% decrease in reported incidents of such fraudulent ads in the past year.