Google has released its 2022 Ads Safety Report, highlighting its efforts to combat fraud, scams, misinformation, and harmful content on its platforms.
According to Google, it added or updated 29 policies for advertisers and publishers in 2022, including expanding its financial services verification program to 10 new countries, expanding protections for teens, and strengthening its elections ads policies.
“We know that people and businesses put enormous trust in Google when they use our products. That’s why we have thousands of people working around the clock to create and enforce effective advertiser and publisher policies to prevent abuse while enabling publishers and businesses of all sizes to thrive,” Google said in the report.
“These policies help protect people. In 2022, we removed over 5.2 billion ads, restricted over 4.3 billion ads, and suspended over 6.7 million advertiser accounts. This represents an increase of 2 billion more ads removed in 2022 from the previous year.”
Google also revealed that it relies on a combination of human reviews and automated systems powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to enforce its policies.
The company removed over 142 million advertisements for violating its misrepresentation policy and 198 million advertisements for violating its financial services policy.
It also blocked and removed over 51.2 million ads for inappropriate content, including hate speech, violence, and harmful health claims, and 20.6 million ads for dangerous products or services such as weapons and explosives.
Furthermore, Google blocked ads from running on over 300,000 publisher pages that violated its policies against harmful health claims, demonstrably false claims, and climate change denial.
The company also expanded its verification and transparency program for election ads, verifying over 5,900 new advertising accounts in the U.S. and over 2,300 in Brazil.
“We do this important work because a healthy ad-supported internet means everyone can access quality information,” Google said.
“As the digital world continues to evolve, Google makes ongoing investments in our policies and enforcement so people can have the safest possible experience online.”
Read more about the report here.
