A major reporting glitch in Google Ads has left some advertisers without access to critical performance data and had earlier exposed sensitive competitor information, sparking concerns over data security and the potential for unfair business practices.
The issue, which began on July 30, 2024, resulted in the temporary unavailability of key reporting tools and product management features, making it difficult for businesses to manage their campaigns effectively.
Impact of Google Ads Glitch
The root concern of the glitch was the exposure of sensitive competitor information. Between July 30-31, 2024, a small fraction of advertisers were able to see unrelated item IDs, product titles, and Merchant Center information from other accounts. This breach allowed advertisers to identify direct competitors by searching the exposed product titles, raising serious privacy concerns.
Due to the glitch, certain features of Google Ads such as the Report Editor, Dashboards, and Saved Reports in the web interface were unavailable, while Products, Product Groups, and Listing Groups pages were down across the web interface, API, and Google Ads Editor.
This temporary outage left advertisers unable to access critical performance data, including information about their competitors’ products and advertising strategies.
While the leaked data does not include sensitive personal information, it can provide valuable insights into competitors’ products and advertising strategies, which could be used to gain an unfair advantage, raising serious concerns over data security and the potential for unfair business practices.
Google’s Response and Ongoing Efforts
Google has acknowledged the issue and is actively working to resolve it. Ginny Marvin, a Google Ads liaison, had earlier stated on X (previously Twitter) that the team is ‘actively looking into’ the issue and will provide updates as more information becomes available. However, the company has provided limited information about the cause of the glitch and the number of affected individuals.
Despite the lack of information, some agencies have begun encrypting sensitive information within client accounts to prevent future breaches. As of August 4, 2024, Google reported via its dashboard and product liaison handle on X that some accounts may remain impacted while services have been fully restored to other accounts.
For accounts that have not been affected by this issue, all reporting services have been restored. Thank you for your patience during this time and we apologize for the inconvenience.
For accounts affected by this issue, we are still working to restore reporting services for Report Editor and the Products tab. We will continue to provide further updates as soon as we have more information. We will reach out to all impacted customers directly with further details on this incident.
As noted earlier, campaigns are serving as expected across all customers.
Advertisers are advised to exercise caution when accessing their Google Ads accounts and avoid acting on any data until Google confirms the issue is fully resolved. The ongoing efforts by Google to bring all reports back online are a positive step towards restoring data security and confidence in the platform.