In order to stop bad ads floated by scamsters, phishers, and promoters of counterfeit goods and malware, Google has joined hands with various industry giants to form the Ads Integrity Alliance. This alliance has come together through StopBadware to stop fraudsters and provide information on a real-time basis to help users remain protected from falling victim to such tactics.
Other industry giants to join hands with Google include Facebook, Twitter, AOL, and IAB. The Ads Integrity Alliance offers all relevant information on bad ads along with their network and IP addresses to keep users informed on a real-time basis. Google has already shut down over 800,000 advertisers and pulled down over 130 million ads in the year 2011 itself that promoted counterfeit goods and indulged in spreading malware.
However, since these advertisers merely shifted their nefarious business on to other service providers, the Ads Integrity Alliance will help partners share valuable data and ensure that those bad ads do not have a chance of popping up elsewhere. This data will also be shared with related law enforcement agencies and policy makers to help them act quickly and decisively since it is quite difficult for a single agency to keep tabs on the vast web.
In addition, this welcome move will also bring in transparency in the online advertising industry and re-build the trust factor damaged by such fraudsters. Such an active community forum will also help webmasters in avoiding and removing bad-ware from their websites.
Bad ads not only confuse users from reaching towards genuine websites, but in addition can also prove to be extremely harmful if they end up on phishing or malware-promoting sites. Google has certainly become pro-active by teaming up with other industry giants to promote the Ads Integrity Alliance in a bid to prevent fraudulent websites from spreading their web of deceit.