The problem of trolls on the Internet can sometimes get to the point of annoyance. The trolls try to annoy people by editing useful information in applications such as Google Maps or Wikipedia. But fortunately, artificial intelligence and machine learning are here to stop some people from playing smart. Google has elaborated on the issue in its blog and noted how it could keep information on Maps reliable in 2021. As per the report, the company used machine learning and human operators to identify abusive edits in Google Business Profiles. In the end, they could block over 100 million abusive edits. Google’s campaign led to overthrowing 7 million fake profiles. Moreover, the company identified and removed more than 630,000 of those profiles. Impersonating companies was also a popular crime. Google says it took action against 8 million fraudulent attempts that claimed to be a company’s profile. The company also stopped 12 million attempts. Google also noted that over 1 million user accounts were disabled due to policy-violating activity, such as online vandalism or fraud. The company also put protections on over 100,000 businesses after detecting suspicious activity and abuse attempts.

Google is identifying malicious attempts with machine learning

Google Maps is also not safe from trolls and abusers. The company says that individuals and groups attempting to use fake reviews to hurt local businesses popped up a lot. Also, as more people use Maps to find information about the places they’re visiting, its accuracy is essential. According to the Google report, it removed more than 95 million policy-violating reviews. The company removed 60,000 reviews due to COVID-related instances. Moreover, more than 1 million reviews were directly sent to Google, and the company took them down. Google’s attempts and its use of machine learning also led to removing more than 190 million photos and 5 million videos that were blurry, low quality, or violated the content policies.