However, Certo used a search analytics tool called Spyfu to search for the ads these companies buy on Google,” it added. When MIT viewed those advertisements, it contained phrases including “app to see spouse’s text messages,” “see who your girlfriend is texting,” and “it’s like having their device.” MIT even noted that “on their websites, stalkerware companies often present themselves as selling legal child monitoring software for concerned parents. It simply means that apps tracking spouses, partners, or anyone else without their knowledge are prohibited. Such apps, some of which are free but most of which are paid-for, typically run undetected in the background on a phone, or masquerade as harmless-seeming calculators, calendars, or system maintenance apps,” MIT said.Īlthough Google still allows advertisements promoting private investigators and child-monitoring products or services, the tech giant said in 2020 that “The updated policy will prohibit the promotion of products or services that are marketed or targeted with the express purpose of tracking or monitoring another person or their activities without their authorization,” it reads. “Stalkerware, also referred to as spyware, is software designed to secretly monitor another person, tracking their location, phone calls, private messages, web searches, and keystrokes. According to a research by mobile security firm Certo Software and confirmed by MIT Technology Review, it appears like stalkerware companies are easily getting around the tech giant’s ad restrictions on spyware, showing up with a simple search for products to keep track of a partners’ phone or to review other’s text messages.
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