Google has removed 200 publishers permanently from its AdSense network as part of an update to its policy on banning sites that intentionally mislead viewers, according to a Google blog post.
In November and December, Google banned sites that faked real news sites, such as using the domain ".co" and faking sites that end in ".com." The company did not release a list of the sites that it had banned, according to Recode.
Google also removed 5 million payday loan ads in 2016. New technology allowed Google to disable 112 million "trick to click" ads that contained malware, the blog said.
Ads for illegal products were also targets in 2016, Google reported. The site disabled more than 68 million ads for healthcare violations and 17 million ads for violating illegal gambling rules, according to the blog post.
The company reported that in 2016 it took down 1.7 billion ads for violations of its policies, more than double the amount of ads it removed in 2015.
The site suspended more than 1,300 accounts for "tabloid cloaking," which fakes legitimate news articles and sends users to sites advertising weight-loss or other products. 47,000 sites were banned for weight-loss scams, Google's blog said.
"Users don't want to be misled by the content they engage with online," Google's policy on misleading ads states. "For this reason, Google ads may not be placed on pages that misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about you, your content or the primary purpose of your web property."
The website Snapchat has also cracked down on fake news, issuing restrictions Monday to keep the site "informative, factual, and safe."
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