Google asks users to help spot spam in Search
San Francisco, June 10 : Google took action on nearly 90,000 user reports of spam in its Search in 2017 and has now asked more users to come forward and help the tech giant spot and squash spam.
According to Juan Felipe Rincon, Global Search Outreach Lead at Google, the automated Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based systems are constantly working to detect and block spam.
"Still, we always welcome hearing from you when something seems fishy. Reporting spam, malware and other issues you find helps us protect the site owner and other searchers from this abuse," Rincon said in a blog post.
"You can file a spam report, a phishing report or a malware report. You can also alert us to any issue with Google search by clicking on the 'Send feedback' link at the bottom of the search results page," he added.
Last year, Google sent over 45 million notifications to registered website owners, alerting them to possible problems with their websites which could affect their appearance in search.
"Just as Gmail fights email spam and keeps it out of your inbox, our search spam fighting systems work to keep your search results clean," Rincon said.
In 2017, Google conducted over 250 webmaster meetups and office hours around the world reaching more than 220,000 website owners.
"Last year, we sent 6 million manual action messages to webmasters about practices we identified that were against our guidelines, along with information on how to resolve the issue," the Google executive said.
With AI-based systems, Google was able to detect and remove more than 80 per cent of compromised sites from search results last year.
"We're also working closely with many providers of popular content management systems like WordPress and Joomla to help them fight spammers that abuse forums and comment sections," the blog post said.
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Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora sent to 7-day ED custody
New Delhi/Gurugram (PTI): A court in Gurugram has sent Punjab's Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora to seven days of ED custody in a money laundering case, officials said on Sunday.
Arora, 62, was arrested on Saturday evening from his official residence in Chandigarh by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a GST fraud case following raids against him.
The central agency had also searched the premises of a company linked to Arora, Hampton Sky Realty Ltd, in Gurugram. The company said it had faith in the legal process and was fully cooperating with all the statutory authorities.
Arora was brought by the ED sleuths to Gurugram, Haryana, from Chandigarh by road, the officials said.
The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Gurugram sent Arora to seven-day ED custody. The agency had sought his 10-day remand, they said.
The minister's lawyer told reporters that the ED registered the case on May 5 and arrested Arora on May 9. He claimed this was a "politically motivated" case.
According to the ED, the probe under the PMLA pertains to "fake" GST purchases of mobile phones worth more than Rs 100 crore and subsequent exports to "round trip" alleged illegitimate funds from Dubai to India.
The agency alleged that multiple fake GST purchase invoices were acquired from "non-existing" firms in Delhi to falsely claim Input Tax Credit (ITC).
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal condemned the ED action, accusing the Centre of using agencies like the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation as "weapons" to scare opposition leaders into joining the BJP.
The BJP hit back, saying Kejriwal and his party were rattled as they knew that "their days are numbered in Punjab".
