Google removing 100 'bad' ads every second
San Francisco, Sep 2 : Google is removing over 100 scam advertisements every second for violating its policies and will soon implement a verification programme to further weed out bad actors from its platform.
After The Wall Street Journal reported that scammers were purchasing search ads and "masquerading as authorised service agents for companies such as Apple Inc", Google said on Saturday it is taking action against such scam artists.
"Just last year alone, we took down more than 3.2 billion ads that violated our advertising policies - that's more than 100 bad ads per second," said David Graff, Director, Global Product Policy at Google.
"We're taking another step. We've seen a rise in misleading ad experiences stemming from third-party technical support providers and have decided to begin restricting ads in this category globally," said Graff.
In the coming months, Google will roll out a verification programme to ensure that only legitimate providers of third-party tech support can use its platform to reach consumers.
"One of our top priorities is to maintain a healthy advertising ecosystem, and that means protecting people from misleading, inappropriate and harmful ads," Google said.
The move came after scammers were found using Google's advertising system to create misleading ads.
"The ads would display a link to Apple's website, but the number in the ad would direct to a call centre that engages in tech-support scams."
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3 Assam Congress MLAs join ruling BJP ahead of assembly polls
Guwahati (PTI): Three Congress MLAs – Kamalakhya De Purakayastha, Sashikanta Das and Basanta Das – on Thursday joined the ruling BJP in Assam, along with two others, ahead of the assembly polls.
All of them were inducted into the party by state BJP president Dilip Saikia in the presence of Union minister Pabitra Margherita at a function here.
The development comes close on the heels of former Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah joining the saffron party.
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Elections to the 126-member Assam assembly are likely to be held in April.
Purakayastha represents Karimganj (North), while Sashikanta and Basanta are sitting MLAs from the Raha and Mangaldoi (SC) constituencies, respectively.
The two others who joined the BJP are former Congress joint secretary Parsha Bob Kalita and former Trinamool Congress general secretary Kangkan Nath.
The three MLAs, reported to be close to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had openly supported the BJP for the past few years, with Sasikanta Das announcing his support to the ruling party's policies in 2021.
The Congress had suffered a jolt, with Borah joining the BJP on February 22, while two other MLAs Abdul Rashid Mondal and Sherman Ali Ahmed switching over to the Raijor Dal last month.
Both Mondal and Ahmed are three-time legislators from Goalpara (West) and Baghbar, respectively.
