[dead]
I have many coworkers who work very hard on this problem.
The claim that Google does not care about ads integrity runs counter to my experience.
Yes I understand that Google says they care a lot about scams and that there are people there working on blocking scams. But those are words. We need to look at money.
There is a very simple way that Google can block basically all scam ads: review all ads manually before approval, and allow no dynamic changes. They won’t do this, because it would implode their business model.
The goal is maintaining a continuous stream of revenue, not killing the stream for short term gains.
Google not only benefits from scam ads, they innovated the entire scam ad economy. Prior to the proliferation of automated online ad services, ads on TV, print media et al were carefully reviewed. There were very little scams.
Naturally such a business has a scaling cap. Online websites would collaborate with advertisers directly, and there were little to no scams. Then Google and others entered the picture and innovated automatic ads with virtually no human verification. After that, we saw an entire online scam ad economy explode.
It’s not just that Google doesn’t care enough about scam ads. They created scam ads, it’s their bread and butter. Not just Google either, we see the same thing with meta on their platforms. The scams will not go away.
It genuinely seems like the "ad integrity" department is a fig leaf to keep regulators away from the billion dollar scam ad business, and the people in said department believing otherwise doesn't convince me in the slightest. Soldiers in Afghanistan really thought they were liberators, but that doesn't mean that's actually why they were there
Google may care a lot, but if my experience is any indicator they don't care enough.