Circumventing Systems and Malicious Software

Last night, Google Ads started to suspend and mass disapprove Google Ads and Google Merchant Center campaigns. There are numerous reports of this issue starting around 4 pm ET on Tuesday, February 14th. The spooky thing is that we saw the same issue exactly the same date and time last year – I am not kidding (deja vu).

The disapproval and suspension notices are specific to either/or circumventing systems and malicious software notices. It seems like these may be done in error, but Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, said she is investigating.

Ginny Marvin from Google did say Google is rolling out a fix last night, she wrote, “The issue has been identified and a fix is rolling out. No action is needed on your part for those affected. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.”

The issue has been identified and a fix is rolling out. No action is needed on your part for those affected. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) February 15, 2023

Here are some of the complaints on Twitter and there are numerous complaints on the Google Ads Help forums as well. There are just too many complaints to post them all here, so here is a sampling.

pic.twitter.com/YiX0slyTLP

— Greg Finn (@gregfinn) February 14, 2023

Circumventing and malicious software errors on a variety of ad groups/accounts but not on all ads in campaigns/ad groups.

— Caleb (@CalebTennenbaum) February 14, 2023

Same happened to me. 100% an issue their end. pic.twitter.com/zFxUqmBzMN

— Rick Hope (@_rickhope) February 14, 2023

Yea has to be glitch

— Mktg4TheFuture (@Mktg4theFuture) February 14, 2023

Yes – I had a 9 minute chat at 5:50pm EST today and they wouldn’t tell me, but she signaled to me there were many calls and ALL AGENTS were not available to answer or hear my concerns about this afternoons issue. Crazy times.

— Joe May (@JoeMayLI) February 14, 2023

Thanks for flagging, looking into this.

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) February 14, 2023

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https://t.co/P9MCTmi9qG

— Ginny Marvin (@GinnyMarvin) February 14, 2023

It was a bug last year and Google fixed it within 24 hours. I wonder why a similar, if not the same thing, happened a year ago, and we are seeing it again.

Forum discussion at Twitter.