2026-09-12 / Signal #6
He spent $220 on Google app ads. 60% of the “users” were robots
“Google sold him 21 installs. Twenty of them had never seen the current app.”
The Story
A puzzle-app maker turned on Google App campaigns. Google reported a spike of installs; his admin panel showed almost none. The “devices” were running an old binary Play had stopped serving, opened once, sat for zero seconds, and never returned. Over two weeks: 56 billed installs, 33 matching the farm pattern, 13 actual people. The farm watched the shortest ad, sideloaded a saved APK, and taught Google’s algorithm that bots were the conversion.
Why It Matters
Money + internet culture + builder utility. The ad auction is now a machine that prefers ghosts because ghosts convert. Pair with the scraping-war vibe without making a TED talk.
Evidence
Dayzle blog (11 Sep); HN (~590 pts / 300+ comments).
Sources
Daily scan: 2026-09-12