Google has machine learning technology that automatically reads street address numbers on houses, regardless of angle, color, size, focus, or typeface.
Using the same type of algorithm to answer "does this ad have anything that looks like a button in it?" is relatively simple by at least two orders of magnitude.
So rather than it being "easy" in some absolute sense, what's meant here is that it is easy compared to similar tasks that we already know Google does routinely and has largely automated.
Lots of things have button and aren't maliciously masquerading as download links. Furthermore, if they start doing that then ad producers will start changing their ad images to evade the algorithm. It's much harder to use ML for a problem when you have a malicious opponent actively working against it.
- Does this ad contain a button-like image with the word "Download" on it?
Presumably the people creating these ads are specifically targeting pages with the word "download" in to create this confusion, it doesn't seem like rocket science for Google to apply the exact same rules.
There is a human behind every single creative shown on Google AdSense. There are even rules around these creatives (need to have distinct border and need to say the name of the advertised product).
Google has machine learning technology that automatically reads street address numbers on houses, regardless of angle, color, size, focus, or typeface.
Using the same type of algorithm to answer "does this ad have anything that looks like a button in it?" is relatively simple by at least two orders of magnitude.
So rather than it being "easy" in some absolute sense, what's meant here is that it is easy compared to similar tasks that we already know Google does routinely and has largely automated.