> When you type the word “Uber” into your Google Play, it auto-fires a click to make it look like you clicked on an Uber ad and attribute the install to themselves.
Isn't above an example of a criminal intent of deliberate fraud?
You explain it like:
>For ex, one ad network launched “battery saver” style apps in Google Play, giving them root access to your phone.
>When you type the word “Uber” into your Google Play, it auto-fires a click to make it look like you clicked on an Uber ad and attribute the install to themselves."
You don't have to be a genius software engineer to understand that.
Unfortunately, that's frequently not the case.
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mksc.2019.118...
Because they have first-party information, neither Google nor Facebook suffer as much from this problem (although the most common school attended on Facebook is Hogwarts, so obviously they're not perfect).
Maybe not from the problem outlined in the study, but fraudsters certainly create fake high value "profiles" that they use to commit fraud on those networks.
I spoke with an ad fraud researcher recently for a marketing podcast I started and he spoke in detail about this fraud is carried out. IIRC he referred to it as retargeting fraud.
Like, they are definitely not perfect, but they are so much better than the rest of the industry.
I am aware of a bunch of advertisers who refuse to use open-web/app advertising because of the high levels of fraud, and this is a reasonable decision given the state of the industry.