It's the best example in my opinion, because it is full of fake versions of popular piracy sites because Google hides the originals.
And it is the only site I know ddg shows certification every time.
I don't even mean browsing! Just trying to install something.
I search for "NordVPN" (because all the cool YouTubers use it!) and the first result is "Norton 360" with an install button.
It's a "sponsored result" and it's easy to install the wrong thing if you're used to it actually finding the thing you just typed in.
If I put Firefox. I get duckduckgo. Okay, maybe not so bad and pretty obvious. But I've had these things for apps that almost look like the legitimate one.
Malware disguised as legitimate software getting served as ads.
Just a few months ago people were shown faked websites for obs studio when searching for the original. They should vet whose ads they're serving instead of just certifying certain corporations.
This is so stupid. God forbid they actually police their ads for malware. No, instead let's push the responsibility onto the individual, by adding get another "Papers, Please"-esque stamp that very few people will know about and even less will actually use.
Hard pass. The day I saw them promoting malware above legitimate search results is the day I turned on ad blocking for my entire org, and a stupid little pay-to-verify badge isn't going to change that.
Why? Google should just police their results. Offering a fake Microsoft in your results means you failed providing the service you claimed to offer.
This is either pay to play.. and that means google will earn money from fraudsters. Or it will look at certificates.. just aite matches certificate.. must be good.
Decades worth of whack a mole could have been used to train an AI to actually help here.. but we made a glorified word guesser instead.