Google Accepting Illegal Ads, Shows BBC Report

According to a new BBC report spotted by Searchengineland, search engine marketing ads for, amongst other things, illegal ticket resellers offering Olympics tickets, cannabis advertising and fake ID card sellers could be found online until very recently.

The investigation, by 5 Live Investigates, was prompted by a consumer complaining that she had tried to buy Olympics tickets from a retailer she found by searching on Google, believing that because the URL appeared top in the paid for search advertisements that the company had to be legitimate. The consumer paid £750 for the tickets online, but apparently became suspicious when the company requested a faxed copy of her signature, and subsequently found out that the company was not an official reseller and the tickets did not exist.

Whilst some in the industry might question the assumption that Google ads equals safe, there is little doubt that many mainstream consumers have this impression. It is far from the first time that Google have been rapped for taking ads from dodgy sources; they recently agreed to pay a $500m penalty in the US for accepting ads from Canadian pharmacies illegally selling to US consumers.

Of course, it is hard for Google to ensure that every single ad comes from a legitimate source, and it does employ both technology and human barriers to try to ensure this. However, it is a salutary reminder to all that even the biggest of companies can be hoodwinked by illegal retailers sometimes.