James Delahunty
21 Feb 2020 17:57
Google has booted more than 600 apps from the Play Store that it accuses of violating its policies by prompting users with disruptive ads that are a detriment to experience.
The 600 apps has reportedly been installed more than 4.5 billion times before their removal this week. In addition to the expulsion from the Play Store, Google has also banned them from Google's monetization platform. Google defines disruptive ads as ads that are displayed to users in unexpected ways, including impairing or interfering with the usability of device functions.
For example, apps that displays "out of context" ads were targeted for removal. An out-of-context ad is one that pops up on a device even when the user is not actually active in the app itself.
Another practice highlighted by Google are full screen ads that pop up when users are trying to make a phone call, unlock a device, or carrying out other essential functions. These ads generate unintentional clicks which are both an annoyance for users, and a fraudulent drain on the resources of the advertiser. Google will refund advertisers who were impacted by removed apps.
"As we move forward, we will continue to invest in new technologies to detect and prevent emerging threats that can generate invalid traffic, including disruptive ads, and to find more ways to adapt and evolve our platform and ecosystem policies to ensure that users and advertisers are protected from bad behavior," a Google blog post reads.