Certain banner advertisements are draining Android batteries, although no one knows who is behind these rogue ads. Ad analysis firm Protected Media discovered the phenomenon, and advised Extreme Tech which is where we learned about this. We immediately wanted to know whether this is a troll, or something more sinister.
What’s Happening with the Rogue Ads in the Background?
We have learned to be selective about mobile phone ads because they chew our battery life. Static banner ads can be a nuisance but at least they don’t do that. At least we thought so until we heard of rogue ads playing secretly in our devices.
Buzz Feed confirms “a popular ad network was exploited by fraudsters to push hidden video ads in apps”. These videos drained battery power when the phones displayed them. Protected media has only detected this on Android phones, although this may be coincidental. Developers use banner ads to payback free software. An unknown person has found a way to piggy-back closet videos onto these.
Remove Popup Ads and Viruses from Androids (The Droid Guy)
How the Technology Behind This Scam Works
The rogue ads mostly appear on Twitter’s MoPub platform. Each uses ‘sketchy generic ad images’ promoting famous brands like Calvin Klein and Prada. The unfortunate Android user might overlook these battery draining scams at their peril.
That’s because these trolling ads feature “several layers of auto-playing video ads” behind them. While the user would not see them, the advertisers would pay the intermediary for impressions no one ever saw. Investigators for Protected Media only discovered this after they detected mysterious battery drains. A company called Aniview owns the software tools but they deny involvement.
Aniview claims an unknown scammer hijacked their technology. Three videos playing in the background are bad news for battery life. Users should stop blaming the innocent apps, and unite to stop rogue ads harassing Android users.
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Preview Image: Android Troll Causing Chaos
Video Share Link: https://youtu.be/QVTr5hF7QRk
