Disinformation

A study released Sunday by The Global Disinformation Index, a UK nonprofit that rates sites’ trustworthiness, found that 70% of roughly 1,700 disinformation sites it analyzed were getting so-called “programmatic ads” — ads placed automatically — from Google, putting brand names such as Audi and Sprint next to junk content.

Democratic governance of digital platforms

Most brands do not want to be associated with hate speech and bot farms, but they are. It is easy to look the other way in such a technically complicated market, but marketers have a responsibility. Brands become complicit by remaining silent.

Policymakers and activists are pushing to reform digital... See more

Digital ads are a $330-billion global business, according to estimates by the research firm eMarketer, and one that’s increasingly dominated by a few major players like Google and Facebook. Google plays a dual role in it both as one of the biggest sellers of online ads on the planet, and also the biggest tech company placing online ads on... See more

Dive Brief:

• Ads that appear near negative content cause a 2.8 times decrease in consumer intent to associate with the brands, according to “The Brand Safety Effect,” a new media trial study by brand safety company CHEQ, IPG Mediabrands, BMW, Magna and a leading online entertainment platform.


• Two-thirds of consumers who expressed a high purchase

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A verified Twitter account (thanks Elon) purporting to be related to the well-respected Bloomberg news empire, shared a photo of plumes of smoke billowing over a large white building with the words, “Large explosion near The Pentagon Complex in Washington D.C - Initial Report”.

The image and Twitter account was fake. The image was likely generated... See more

Tell me in two minutes

The cross-roads between AI and online safety present two major societal risks:

1. the generation of ‘deepfakes’ and abusive content


2. the proliferation of false information.

These risks derive from generative AI ( GenAI ) - and they are more dangerous and damaging than the long-known risks from traditional AI. GenAI can make... See more

Dive Brief:

• 4A’s unveiled the Advertiser Protection Bureau (APB), where agencies will collectively share the responsibility of creating a community that protects the health of all brands while keeping consumers safe, too, according to a press release. The announcement was made at the 4A’s closed Accelerate conference last month but only now

... See more