Advertisers rightly ask whether they pay for the bots and junk the platform catches. The answer depends on when it is caught.
Caught before the bid: not paid
The main filters work pre-bid. A request that fails them is refused before any bid is placed, so there is nothing to pay for. This is where most bad traffic is stopped: blocklists, fake domains, invalid and unmeasurable traffic.
Caught after delivery
Some fraud only shows itself later, for example in click patterns across many campaigns. Then:
- the placement's click quality score drops,
- the source is put on review or blocked automatically for next time,
- on the supply side, our Publisher Policy says traffic found to be invalid is not paid to the supplier and may be deducted from later payouts.
How advertisers can see it
Every campaign has a quality receipt showing what was checked on its traffic, and blocklists keep a full history. This gives advertisers evidence instead of a promise.
For operators
Your advertisers' credits and refunds follow your own terms. Decide in advance how you'll handle a dispute about traffic quality, and point advertisers to their quality receipt first; it answers most questions.
Related: The quality receipt for every campaign · Reporting protection to your clients