Security News > 2020 > February > Google purges 600 Android apps for “disruptive” pop-up ads

You know those ads that obscure your whole screen when you're trying to make a phone call, unlock your device or use your phone's GPS? Technically, they're called disruptive or out-of-app ads, and they maddeningly pop up outside of the app that hosts them, sometimes causing users to mistakenly click them, thereby frustrating users and wasting advertisers' money.

On Thursday, Google kicked nearly 600 of the offending apps off its Play store and banned them from its ad monetization platforms, Google AdMob and Google Ad Manager, for violating its disruptive ads policy and disallowed interstitial policy.

Per Bjorke, Google's senior product manager for ad traffic quality, said in a Google security blog post that the developers behind these apps keep coming up with ways to deploy them and mask what they're up to.

Google detailed a three-step plan to keep the Play Store and Android ad ecosystem from getting polluted by disruptive ads and other challenges.

Bjorke declined to name specific apps or developers but said that many were utilities or games, although BuzzFeed News reporter Craig Silverman, who's been reporting about Play Store fraud for a number of years, says that one of the app developers banned on Thursday is Cheetah Mobile, which had about 45 apps removed.

News URL

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/02/24/google-purges-600-android-apps-for-disruptive-pop-up-ads/