Meta Platforms, Inc.
Detecting cloaking of websites using model for analyzing URL redirects

Abstract:

An online system transmits to a mobile device a feed story that includes a uniform resource locator (URL) of a feed story website. The online system receives from the mobile device a URL log that includes URLs that the mobile device accessed in response to requesting content from the feed story website. The online system extracts a feature of at least one URL in the log, and inputs the extracted feature into a model that was trained, using machine learning, to identify websites that perform cloaking. The model generates a score indicating a likelihood that the feed story website performs cloaking based the extracted feature. The online system compares the score to a threshold to determine whether the feed story website performs cloaking. If the online system determines that the feed story website performs cloaking, the online system limits delivery of content including the URL of the feed story website.