> Of course any time someone looks into it they find that that click-rate fraud is at outrageous levels. So maybe no one needs Apple. The fraud bots will keep the ecosystem running.

Could this be why ad recommendations are so bad? Recommendation engines being trained on (mostly fraudulent) click-through rates instead of ROI?

Edit: It seems like it would be just a little more work to check both, but often incentives aren't aligned to doing the best work...