Google said Thursday it blocked a record 8.3 billion ads globally in 2025 — up from 5.1 billion the year before. But the company suspended far fewer advertiser accounts than that surge might suggest, raising questions about how it polices its platform.
The search giant attributed the disparity to its growing use of AI, particularly its Gemini models — Google’s family of AI systems — which Google says allow it to detect and block policy-violating ads earlier and with greater precision. Its AI-driven systems caught more than 99% of such ads last year before they were shown to users, the company said.