Malware & deception
Download prompt in creative
- Ad Manager API value
- DOWNLOAD_PROMPT_IN_CREATIVE
What Google's rule says
The Ad Manager API defines DOWNLOAD_PROMPT_IN_CREATIVE as the creative prompting the user to download a file. It is one of the values that exists in the API without a matching entry on the public disapproval-reason lists, so the enum is where its definition lives.
What actually causes it
- A software or app ad that starts a download from inside the ad rather than from the destination.
- A creative offering a document, guide or installer directly.
- A button imitating a browser or operating system download prompt.
- A media player mock-up that triggers a file transfer on interaction.
How to fix it
Move the download behind the landing page. The ad's job is to get the user to a page that explains what they are about to receive; nothing should transfer from the ad itself.
The part that is not obvious
The violation is the prompt, not the file, and that is what makes it catch legitimate software advertisers. There is nothing wrong with the download and nothing wrong with advertising it — the objection is to a transfer beginning in a frame the user did not navigate to, where they have no context for what is being offered and no page to read first. This is also the reason most likely to overlap with trick to click, because a download prompt inside an ad usually has to imitate a system dialog to look credible at all.
Related reasons
Reason name and API value verified against Ad Manager API — CreativePolicyViolation (v202602) on 30 July 2026 (Ad Manager SOAP API v202602). The causes and fix above are practitioner guidance, not Google policy text.