Remove policy violations from creatives

Google scans Ad Manager creatives for policy violations and to prevent malware in ad content. If Google detects a policy violation, it either temporarily pauses or permanently deactivates the creative from serving. Remove the policy violation to re-traffic the existing creative or traffic a new one.

This article outlines the process for identifying and resolving policy violations in ad creatives, which are scanned for malware and adherence to Google's platform policies.

On this page

• Understand policy violation creative statuses
• Find creatives under policy violation
• Fix policy violations

Note: Because of the sensitive nature of policy violations, Google is unable to provide additional information beyond what’s available in the Google Ad Manager UI.

Google periodically re-scans creatives that are flagged for policy violations. The frequency of re-scanning is based on a number of factors and is not something we can expedite. If you need a campaign to run as soon as possible, traffic a new creative after resolving the policy violation.

Understand policy violation creative statuses

Creatives affected by a policy violation have one of the following "Inactive" statuses:

Status	Description	What you should do
Disabled for policy violation	Google has disabled the creative because of a policy violation. It won't be reactivated in the future.	Fix the policy violation and traffic a new creative.
Paused for policy violation; re‑scanning	The creative is currently not serving because of a policy violation. The creative will be re-scanned and, if Google determines that it no longer has policy violations, it will be cleared.	Wait for Google to re-scan the creative.
Cleared; eligible for serving	Google has determined that the creative no longer has policy violations.	Add the creative back to the line items to resume delivery.

1. Find creatives under policy violation

When you add both filters, you can see all of the line items with creatives that have been flagged for a policy violation, but have been updated.

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Delivery, then Line items, and then All line items.
3. Add one or both filters listed below, using the described criteria. When you add both filters, you can see all creatives that have been flagged for a policy violation, but have been updated.
4. Click to open any of the affected line items, then click Creatives to see the specific violation.

 

Filter	Description
Policy violation	See the line items with creatives that either have an active policy violation or have been re-scanned and cleared by Google. Start by applying the Policy violation, then is, and then Detected filter. Click a line item and then look for creatives with a status of Inactive (Disabled for policy violation) or Inactive (Paused for policy violation; re-scanning). After removing the policy violation, apply the Policy violation, then is, and then Cleared filter. Click a line item and then look for creatives with a status of Inactive (Cleared; eligible for serving).
Policy violation updated	Choose Policy violation updated, then in the last, select a timeframe, and then apply the filter to see line items with creatives whose policy violation status has changed during that range.

2. Fix policy violations

Once you find a creative under policy violation, you can click to open its creative details page for more information.

Follow these steps for the given violation.

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Malvertising in creative

The creative contains requests to domains that are linked to malvertising. Malvertising violates Google’s platform policies.

Fix the violation

• Ensure that creatives never contain requests to the listed domains.
• If this creative is from an ad network/SSP, alert them to this policy violation. Use these tips to resolve the issue with them:
  • Confirm that you’re working with their malvertising department.
  • It’s not sufficient for the ad network/SSP to block a single creative; they must continuously remove all the served creatives that load this domain.
• For creatives that you own, remove all references to the offending domain.

Malvertising in landing page

The creative directs to a landing page that hosts or distributes malvertising. Malvertising violates Google’s platform policies.

Fix the violation

Review the landing page destination. Remove all references of the suspicious domain from the landing page. If the suspicious domain is the landing page destination, Google Ad Manager is unable to serve the creative.

This can happen when the landing page contains ads from ad networks/SSPs. We recommend contacting your ad networks/SSPs to ensure they’re not loading creatives that make requests to these domains. Use these tips to resolve the issue:

• Confirm that you’re working with their malvertising department.
• It’s not sufficient for the ad network/SSP to block a single creative; they must continuously remove all the served creatives that load this domain.

Legally objectionable content

The creative redirects to a URL that leads to a property containing legally objectionable content. Therefore, the URL cannot be redirected from any Google domain or network.

Fix the violation

Ensure that the creative or landing page doesn’t reference or make requests to the violating domain. Be aware that the violating domain may be dynamically loaded by third-party scripts within the creative or landing page.

Misrepresentation of product

The ad or site may be missing important information related to financial services, a software download, or charitable or political donations. In addition, the site may not be clearly and conspicuously disclosing pricing-related information.

Fix the violation

• Remove any unwanted downloads in the creative.
• See if the creative is making a request to a domain associated with unwanted software.

Self-clicking creative

We don’t allow the promotion of artificial ad clicking in creatives, or the placement of ads with landing pages that contain automated ad clicking. This ad contains at least one form of automated clicking.

Fix the violation

This typically happens when the click macro is inserted into the creative incorrectly. Ensure that the click macro isn't firing before the user has clicked.

Dynamic DNS in creatives or landing page

The creative uses Dynamic DNS, or IP mapping. This is a domain that can be frequently updated to change IP addresses. Such behavior can deliver varying content and is therefore prohibited by our policies.

Fix the violation

Ensure the creative doesn’t reference or make requests to the violating domain. Be aware that the violating domain may be dynamically loaded by third-party scripts within the creative or landing page.

Phishing

The creative leads to "phishing" for the users’ information or promotes other scams.

Fix the violation

Ensure the creative doesn’t reference or make requests to the violating domain. Be aware that the violating domain may be dynamically loaded by third-party scripts within the creative or landing page.

Download prompt in creative

We don’t allow creatives to prompt users to download a file. Common causes of these prompts include:

• Incorrect use of third-party tracking URLs in creatives or creative templates.
• Setting JavaScript as the src of an <iframe> HTML tag.

Fix the violation

Try the following to remove the download prompt from the creative:

• Remove any existing JavaScript from the "Third-party impression tracking URLs" field of the creative (this field is available in third-party, HTML5, image, custom, and Campaign Manager 360 tag creatives). When JavaScript is added to the tracking URL field, it’s most often a trafficking mistake.
• If you’re using the standard creative template in Ad Manager called "Image banner with optional third-party tracking", there's a "Third-party impression tracker" field on that template. This field probably contain links to JavaScript files, which are not supported. Instead, add these links to the "Safecount survey URL" field in this same template.