Some of you guys might be thinking that with Google policing its search engine and removing copyrighted material and unsafe material, you would think that those practices might apply to fake ads as well, right? Well that does not seem to be the case, according to a Whitenoise contributor who discovered that attempting to search for “iTunes” on Google will yield an ad space at the top of the page in which it will actually take users to a malware-ridden website, meaning that if you do not have the appropriate protection installed or are attempting to install iTunes on a new computer, what you will get is a face full of malware instead.
Thankfully for those who take the time and explore the search results page, the first non-ad link is a legit link to the iTunes page on Apple’s website. Now this isn’t really Google’s fault as it is not Google’s algorithm that causes the malware to be linked and listed, but rather it’s Google’s advertising format that puts ads at the top, For legitimate businesses this is of course great placement, but for the less tech savvy who just wants to download iTunes, this could prove to be pretty dangerous. Of course if you had installed a Chrome extension like AdBlock, you’ll never see the ad to begin with, so that’s something you can take into consideration. In any case for the sake of new computers out there, hopefully Google will be looking into this listing soon.