How Unethical Ad Practices Damage the Mobile Advertising Ecosystem and Publisher Trust

Why Unethical Ad Practices Harm the Entire Advertising Ecosystem

This article is not intended for beginners or those just starting out as publishers, but rather for professionals already working within this ad network!

Specifically regarding ads, the negative impact on user experience when accessing content via mobile smartphones is significant. It is deeply frustrating when a user's device has been injected with modified ads unrelated to the content, created by certain publishers or developers for their own motives.

In some cases, as fellow publishers within this ad network, we should not tarnish the reputation of the platform, which can harm both ourselves and others. Sometimes these acts even come from rivals or third parties looking to bring others down. It's unlikely that large companies would engage in such behavior; more often it’s publishers looking for shortcuts to make fast profits.

It’s not about jealousy over high impressions or revenue. The real concern is the loss of value for advertisers, who may reconsider using the ad network to promote their products. Without ads, what is left to display? And where else would we get our side income?

That’s why we must follow community guidelines to maintain a stable and trustworthy advertiser ecosystem. Imagine you’re paying a high price to advertise your product on the network. Instead of gaining reach and sales, you get poor results. That’s the advertiser’s perspective.

Now consider the user perspective, especially smartphone owners. Many are unknowingly affected by background-running APKs that push intrusive interest-based ads. These cannot be easily removed from app settings. Tech-savvy users might handle this, but what about the elderly? They often need to visit phone repair shops just to remove these persistent adware apps.

When publishers disregard the rules, it negatively impacts all compliant publishers. Advertisers respond with stricter policies, making it harder to earn revenue. For example, starting August 25, 2025, a new policy violation label covering RAF (Restricted Ad Features) will take effect, limiting access to search-based ads on the network. This is serious—many publishers rely on these high-revenue sources.

Previously, Custom Search Engine (CSE) was discontinued, and this too will affect AFS (AdSense for Search) in the future.

Hopefully, this doesn’t discourage new publishers from joining the advertising network—but let’s all do our part to keep the system clean and fair.

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