Indie Dev

How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

A developer promoting RACE, a macOS terminal multiplexer written in Rust, had their Google Ads account suspended for "Malicious software" despite the app being notarized and the site having no attack surface. Three appeals were rejected with generic automated responses, and the account was eventually reinstated only after the story gained traction on Hacker News — with no explanation ever provided.

Blog post · Developer Experience · Google Ads · Security · Indie Dev

I spent $220 on Google app ads. 60% of the installs were robots.Google reported 21 installs in a day. The admin panel said 1. What the other 20 were, how a bot farm gets paid, and what we changed.

Nick Abe at Dayzle documents a Google App Ads campaign where the platform reported 21 installs on one day while their own backend recorded only one real user. Forensic analysis of raw analytics revealed the remaining installs bore the hallmarks of bot-farm activity, with old app versions and brief mechanical sessions.

Blog post · Advertising · Google · Mobile Apps · Fraud