Google publishes an annual Ads Safety Report, which is intended to document how the company enforces its ad policies – and thus present Google as the guardian of user safety. This year’s report shows that more than 3.4 billion ads were blocked in 2021.
Blocks and restrictions
Not all ads that violate Google’s advertising guidelines are blocked immediately. In many cases, the company merely restricts ads so that conformity with its policies is established. Such restrictions hit about 5.7 billion ads last year.
More than 5.6 million user accounts were closed in connection with advertising policy violations in 2021. This number has thus increased significantly: it is three times higher than in the previous year.
Misinformation related to the pandemic
Also indicated this year was the number of such ads that were blocked due to misinformation about Covid-19 or similar false claims: 500,000 ads were affected. In this regard, Google stated that the ads either violated policies related to Covid-19 or could damage trust in elections and democratic institutions.
