Google Ads hit by major reporting glitch, exposing competitor data

Google Ads is experiencing a significant outage affecting multiple reporting tools and product management features.

Why we care. This outage impacts advertisers’ ability to manage their campaigns and access critical performance data.

Details:

• Bottom: Report editor, dashboards, reports saved in the web interface.
• Affected: Product pages, Product groups, Web listing groups, API and Google Ads Editor.
• Data Breach: Unrelated item IDs, product titles, and Merchant Center information visible to competitors.

Between the lines. This issue raises serious privacy concerns, as advertisers can potentially identify their direct competitors by searching displayed product titles.

What they say. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin acknowledged the issue on X and is “actively investigating it,” promising updates as more information becomes available:

What to watch. How quickly Google resolves the outage and addresses the data exposure, as well as the potential consequences of the privacy breach.

Seen for the first time: British advertising agency Bidnamic reported a serious data breach on LinkedIn between July 30 and 31, 2024, as advertisers saw sensitive information from competitors in their accounts.

Bottom line. Advertisers should exercise caution when accessing their Google Ads accounts and avoid acting on the data until Google confirms the issue is resolved.