Google says it blocked a record 8.3 billion ads worldwide in 2025, a sharp jump from 5.1 billion the previous year, but the number of advertiser accounts it suspended did not rise at the same pace.
The company shared the figures in its latest Ads Safety Report, highlighting a shift in how it handles policy violations across its platform.
The company credits this change to its growing use of AI, especially its Gemini models, which are now playing a bigger role in detecting problematic content. Google says its systems were able to catch more than 99 percent of violating ads before they were ever shown to users. Instead of shutting down entire advertiser accounts, the focus has increasingly moved toward blocking individual ads more precisely.
Google also pointed to the rise of generative AI as a factor behind the surge in harmful ads. Scammers are using these tools to create misleading content at scale, but the same technology is also helping Google identify patterns across large campaigns and stop them earlier in the process.
This approach is part of a broader effort to integrate Gemini across Google’s products, including advertising. The company is using AI not just to detect policy violations but also to automate campaign creation and respond to new threats as they appear.
Among the actions taken, Google blocked 602 million ads and suspended 4 million advertiser accounts linked to scams. In the United States, it removed more than 1.7 billion ads and suspended 3.3 million accounts, with common issues including ad network abuse, misrepresentation, and sexual content. In India, its largest market by users, Google blocked 483.7 million ads, nearly doubling the previous year’s total, while account suspensions dropped to 1.7 million from 2.9 million, with trademark, financial services, and copyright violations among the most frequent problems.
If this article helped you, please consider supporting our work. Every small contribution keeps Abijita.com independent and running.
At a virtual briefing, Keerat Sharma, Google’s vice president and general manager for ads privacy and safety, said the company is now taking a more targeted approach by focusing on individual ads rather than relying on broad account suspensions. He said this shift has reduced incorrect suspensions by 80 percent compared to the previous year.
