A report from Google shows that 5.1 billion malicious ads were blocked in 2024 using AI.
Google blocked or removed more than 5.1 billion ads in 2024 for violating advertising policies. This is revealed in the new Ads Safety Report, in which the company focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence on ad security. More than 9.1 billion ads were restricted.
Ads
According to Google, AI plays an increasingly important role in the fight against harmful ads. Thanks to systems such as the Gemini model and other advanced large language models (LLMs), Google can act faster and more accurately against abuse. These models recognize suspicious patterns with less data than before, stopping malicious advertisers early in the process.
As a result, 39.2 million advertiser accounts were suspended, usually before any ads were shown. Ads were also removed from more than 1.3 billion web pages. In 97 percent of these cases, AI played a central role in detecting the violation.
Ads that violate rules regarding deception, false financial services, trademark infringement, and dangerous products form the largest categories. In total, Google imposed restrictions on 9.1 billion ads. Additionally, more than 222,000 ads were removed from publisher websites.
Scams and Elections
A notable trend in 2024 was the use of deepfakes for fraud. Google formed a specialized team of over 100 experts that tracked down and removed more than 700,000 malicious advertiser accounts. This intervention reduced the number of reports of such ads by 90 percent.
Election security was also high on the agenda. In a year when half of the world’s population voted, Google took extra steps to counter manipulation through ads. More than 8,900 election advertisers were verified. At the same time, Google removed 10.7 million ads from unverified accounts. The company also introduced mandatory transparency about the use of AI in election ads.