How to Reduce Fake News in Online Advertising

Steps can be taken to reduce the threat of fake news infiltrating online advertising.

Speaking during the Westminster Forum Conference about tackling fake news and online misinformation, Konrad Shek, deputy director, policy and regulation at the Advertising Association, said the advent of disinformation has had an “enormous impact on trust in the media and politics.”

He said within commercial advertising there have been cases of false claims and promoted stories, and manipulated content, which can appear on social media and news feeds, while some websites that do “propagate false information are supported by adverts and legitimate ads can find themselves on these dubious websites.”

He also explained that there are online fraudsters that use tactics to better promote adverts, including adding clicks for misattribution, which can divert advertisers’ money to the fraudulent actor. “I’d refrain from saying that restricting adverts is a solution, as you have to think about the consequences of an approach and the impact it would have on the free internet,” he said. This calls for four options, he contitinued:

Try and choke the funds to fake news websites, as brands are already sensitive about the impact of being associated with these websites and this is a good incentive to work towards being placed on such websites. However, he pointed out that the speed of ads in the supply chain mean it may not always be possible to know where the ad has been published
The use of standards and technology to reduce ad fraud and reduce advertising money in the supply chain. “Th ..

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