Most people know at this point that when searching for a popular software package to download, you should be very careful to avoid clicking on any of the search ads that appear, as this has become an extremely common vector for distributing malware to unsuspecting users.
If you thought that you could identify these malicious ads by checking the URL below the ad to see if it directs to the legitimate site, think again! Malware advertisers have found a way to use Google's Ad platform to fake the URL shown with the ad to make it appear like a legitimate ad for the product when in fact, clicking the ad will redirect to an attacker controlled site serving malware.
Don't click on search ads or, even better, use an ad-blocker so that you never see them in the first place!
Businesses should not be allowed to serve ads from random people without curating/checking them first. Yeah it would be a lot of trouble and cost a lot of money, too fucking bad you are making billions of dollars off this.
Yeah seriously, they can and should have a team dedicated to approving ads.
And if False Advertising is a crime in print media, why is malware advertising not also a crime?
Because Google has gotten the law steuctured such that THEY aren't liable for false advertisements they host and serve.
If I posted an ad that was blatantly false on Google, legally I'm the one liable, not Google.
It's ass backwards, Google should be on the hook for this and should have to curate advertisements. Especially when so any of them are not just fake but are openly malicious