Google buys Spider.io to combat online fraud

Google has purchased Spider.io, a company specializing in the combat of online fraud.

The acquisition was announced on Google's DoubleClick Advertising blog on Friday. Spider.io has developed fraud detection technology designed to discover malicious coding and scams that are embedded within links and media -- and Google plans to immediately integrate this technology within its video and display advertisement products.

Over the long-term, the tech giant hopes to improve the metrics that advertisers and publishers use to determine the value -- and therefore suitable levels of investment -- of digital media, and by eradicating fake and fraudulent results, this may help businesses see what campaigns and media actually give strong results.

"By including spider.io’s fraud fighting expertise in our products, we can scale our efforts to weed out bad actors and improve the entire digital ecosystem," Google says.

No financial details have been revealed concerning the deal.

"Advertising helps fund the digital world we love today -- inspiring videos, informative websites, entertaining apps and services that connect us with friends around the world," the announcement reads. "But this vibrant ecosystem only flourishes if marketers can buy media online with the confidence that their ads are reaching real people, that results they see are based on actual interest. To grow the pie for everyone, we need to take head on the issue of online fraud."

Spider.io's technology will complement Google's current efforts to keep fraud at bay. The firm says that aside from investing in fraud prevention technology, Google turned down millions of applications from sites looking to join its network last year due to suspected fraudulent activity.