Technologies

Google Cracks Down on Scams and Fake Content on Google Maps

Millions of photos, reviews and other pieces of fraudulent content were removed in 2022.

Google on Friday outlined steps it took to stop fake info from making its way onto Google Maps.

Google Maps is a go-to for directions, a way to find public transportation info and even offers a peek into the past thanks to Street View. It also provides a wealth of information that’s contributed by people, including videos, reviews, ratings and business information. Some of that user-contributed content, however, can be inaccurate or fraudulent.

With the help of machine learning, the search giant removed millions of pieces of user-submitted fake content from Google Maps in 2022, said Ashish Gupta, Google’s engineering director for user-generated content, in a blog post. This included 115 million policy-violating reviews along with 200 million photos and 7 million videos that were «blurry, low quality, or violated our content policies.» Google also stopped 20 million attempts to create fake business profiles, Gupta said.

Google also shared some specific examples of attempts to scam people through Google Maps, including a scheme that involved images with fake phone numbers for businesses.

«Scammers started overlaying inaccurate phone numbers on top of contributed photos, hoping to trick unsuspecting victims into calling the fraudster instead of the actual business,» Gupta explained.

The company said its machine learning tech was able to pick up on these fake images, removing them from Google Maps faster and in many cases blocking them before they were published.

For more, check out how to blur your home on Google Maps and how Google Maps can help you figure out dinner.

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Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 18, #1011

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 18 #1011.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is pretty tricky, but musicians might find the blue group easy. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Time between two things, maybe.

Green group hint: That smarts!

Blue group hint: Rockers know these well.

Purple group hint: You might write one out to pay a bill.