Google used AI to suspend 39M ad accounts over fraud suspicion in 2024

Google used artificial intelligence (AI) to suspend over 39 million advertiser accounts over fraud suspicion in 2024, a new report by the tech giant shows.

In its 2024 Ads Safety Report, the company highlights how large language models (LLMs) were used to clamp down on advertiser fraud. It says it launched more than 50 enhancements to its LLMs last year, which enabled more efficient and precise enforcement at scale.

As a result, the company blocked and removed 5.1 billion bad ads globally over the year. This comprised using signals like business impersonation and illegitimate payment details as early indicators of potential consumer harm.

The majority of the blocked ads were flagged for “abusing the ad network,” trademark violations and personalised ads.

“We suspended over 39.2 million accounts in total, the vast majority of which were suspended before they ever served an ad,” says Google.

Additionally, the company noted a rise in public figure impersonation ads, where bad actors use AI-generated imagery or audio to imply an affiliation with a celebrity to promote a scam.

Deepfakes have been on the rise since last year, with the likeness of global celebrities like the U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey being used to promote controversial self-help courses.

Locally, AI-generated videos of popular personalities and television news anchors have been used to dupe Kenyans into buying land.

“As a result, we were able to permanently suspend over 700,000 offending advertiser accounts,” Google's report notes.