Deception
Cloaking
Reviewers and real users are shown different pages, so the ad platform or search feed approves something that visitors never see.
How it works
Cloaking is a bait and switch aimed at the referee. When the visitor looks like a platform reviewer or an automated checker, the site serves a harmless "safe page". When the visitor looks like an ordinary user, it serves the real page, with the claims or layout that would have failed review.
In search arbitrage it is used in two directions: to get non-compliant ads past the traffic platform, and to hide the true landing experience or traffic source from the feed. Either way it is treated as deliberate deception, not a mistake, and it is among the fastest routes to a permanent ban. This portal does not describe how it is done; what matters is recognising it in a partner or vendor.
Who pays for it
Users, who are exposed to content a review would have stopped. Advertisers on both platforms, whose brand sits beside it. And any honest partner sharing an account or feed with the cloaker when the account is closed.
Who does it, and why
Operators whose creatives or landers cannot pass review, and vendors who sell cloaking as a service. The incentive is access to cheap traffic that honest ads cannot unlock.
Warning signs
- A partner's page looks different when opened from an office network than from a home phone.
- Vendors offering "safe pages", "white pages" or "moderation filters".
- Landing URLs that pass through unexplained redirect or filtering services.
- Ad accounts that are repeatedly banned and replaced.
Defences
- Refuse any tool or partner that shows different content to reviewers; put it in contracts.
- Spot-check partner landers from several networks, devices and countries.
- Keep the full redirect path short and documented.
- Treat a history of account bans as a warning sign when taking on a media buyer.
An example
Real case: in April 2020 Facebook sued the operator of LeadCloak, which it said sold software that showed its ad reviewers an innocuous page, such as a sweater for sale, while users were sent to pages for COVID-19 scams, cryptocurrency schemes, diet pills and fake news. Facebook said the tool was also aimed at Google and other platforms.
Documented cases
- Facebook v. LeadCloak (2020): Cloaking software sold to advertisers to hide the real landing page from ad review
- Malicious "direct search" redirects on parked domains (2025): Zero-click parking abuse: visitors to parked and typo domains sold on to scams and malware