A troublesome reality of digital advertising that we've been fighting against for years may finally be fading out thanks to a major move by Google to restrict big-button ads.

Anyone who has spent time on a website with programmatic advertising is likely familiar with the ads in question—they use large (often green) buttons that grab user attention with prominent calls to action, including "Click Here", "Download" or "Next". The "Big button design" is a tactic often associated with deceptive advertising practices, commonly referred to as dark patterns. By disguising themselves as part of a site’s UI, these ads drive unintentional clicks from web users, leading to fake downloads, unwanted subscriptions, and phishing attempts. At best, big button ads are annoying and confusing. At worst, they pose a major security risk, particularly to users who are in financial distress, not technologically savvy, impulsive or distracted, and scrolling on a mobile device.

We started identifying big button ads as a serious security and quality issue in 2022, based on some of the techniques we saw behind them. We've been actively flagging and blocking them for publishers since then, and we're thrilled Google is changing their policy to no longer allow big button ads to flow through their system.

The Google Ads Misrepresentation - Misleading Ad Design policy update, which takes effect on January 23, 2025, will clarify that any ads that "make it difficult for the user to understand they are interacting with an ad by using standalone buttons in image ads that lack clear context explaining their function, or whose prominence relative to the surrounding ad content is disproportionate, are restricted."

These buttons have managed to become a persistent nuisance for publishers and internet users by deftly exploiting the gray areas in advertising policy.

"Ten or fifteen years ago, big download buttons were everywhere in programmatic advertising, because that was what could be monetized," said Jerome Dangu, Confiant's CTO and Co-Founder. "As the industry matured and ad policies got more strict, these patterns of misleading users remained but within a range of seemingly acceptable behaviors. But we at Confiant have long argued that this isn't really a gray area: these ads provide no value for users. They decrease engagement by driving people away from publisher sites and, in some cases, they can cause great harm."

Over the years, we've tracked the use of big buttons across the malvertising landscape.

In September 2022 we identified the entity known as QuizTSS, which had been using big "Start" and "Continue" buttons designed to look like they were a part of legitimate online quiz content. When clicked, these buttons redirected users to fraudulent tech support websites that attempted to convince users that their devices had been compromised and encouraged them to purchase unnecessary technical support services.

We first identified the 3ezSteps cluster in April 2024 by tracking ads with a green button and "3 simple steps" call to action. When clicked, these ads drove users to a landing page that promised "free access" to an online service in exchange for users inputting their credit card information to verify their account. In reality, these ads subscribed users to an online affiliate service.

These tactics are part of a larger web practice known as dark pattern designs, which are deployed with the explicit purpose of deceiving or confusing users.

Google isn't the only stakeholder taking note. Several prominent government and consumer protection agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and the Center for Economic Justice, have all recently taken action to combat deceptive ad practices, including "big button" designs and other dark patterns.

Congratulations to Google on taking this significant step, which we hope will ripple across the industry. It’s a happy holiday surprise for our publishers and everyone who cares about quality and security across the ad-supported internet.