• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 4, 2022

Google blocked or removed 3.4 billion ads in 2021, restricted more than 5.7 billion ads and suspended more than 5.6 million advertiser accounts, according to its annual Ads Safety Report released today.

It takes screening and monitoring to make an ad-supported internet that allows everyone to access essential information and diverse content for free, according to Google. So as the digital world evolves, its policy development and enforcement strategies evolve with it to prevent abuse.

The ad policies that Google enforced the most in 2021 range from abusing the network to counterfeit goods.

For example, Google blocked 652.1 million ads related to abusing the ad network, 286.8 million related to adult content, 136.9 million related to trademark abuse, 125.6 million related to inappropriate content, and 75.1 million related to gambling and games. 

The company also blocked 60 million ads related to healthcare and medicines, 58.9 million related to financial services, 44.2 million related to copyrights, 38.1 million related to misrepresentation, 32.6 million related to legal requirements, 20.6 million related to dangerous products or services, and millions more related to alcohol, dishonest behavior, personalized ads and counterfeit goods.

The company also blocked or restricted ads from serving on 1.7 billion publisher pages, and took site-level enforcement action on approximately 63,000 publisher sites.

The numbers provide insight into why Google pushes to advertise to verify their companies and purpose -- not only advertisers, but also publishers.

The advertising policies that Google enforced the most in 2021 related to publishers range from sexual content in advertising to ads malicious or unwanted software.

For example, Google blocked 1.27 billion ads related to sexual content, 192.61 million related to dangerous or derogatory messages, 122.19 million weapons promotion and sales, 68.48 million related to shocking content, 35.93 million related to tobacco, and millions more related to alcohol sales, intellectual property abuse, malicious or unwanted software, and sexually explicit content.

There is also an ongoing fight against COVID-19 misinformation and abuse. Google blocked ads from running on more than 500,000 pages for violating its policies against harmful health claims related to the pandemic. Google blocked more than 106 million ads related to COVID-19.