This isn't about URL shorteners at all. The issue is a particular “feature” of major ad platforms: in your ad, you can show a link on a domain that you don't own.
Let's say I've built a version of Firefox that sends your cookies back to me, and now I want to distribute it. I can set up a phishing page, then buy an ad on Google that shows https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/ instead of my URL.
This has already happened with GIMP [1], and I suppose many other opensource / freeware apps, too. This is just one example of an attack this “feature” makes possible.
Let's say I've built a version of Firefox that sends your cookies back to me, and now I want to distribute it. I can set up a phishing page, then buy an ad on Google that shows https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/ instead of my URL.
This has already happened with GIMP [1], and I suppose many other opensource / freeware apps, too. This is just one example of an attack this “feature” makes possible.
[1]: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-ad-for...