Facebook Not Doing Enough to Stop Fake Clicks on Ads
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
Facebook Inc. can block bots from viewing and clicking on ads but the social-media company isn’t doing enough to stop it, web analytics firm Method Media Intelligence found.
Advertising fraud has plagued companies that pay online platforms including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.’s Bing for views, clicks, likes and app installations. Robot-controlled browsers, or bots, have grown more sophisticated in imitating human activity such as clicking ads, opening web pages, downloading apps and filling out forms. That’s causing advertisers to pay more for fake activity, MMI said Monday in a report.