Thread by @nandoodles

NEW: @GoogleAds, @RhythmOne, @OpenX, @taboola, @disqus, @sovrnholdings, @AcuityAds, @criteo, @TheTradeDesk, @xandr & @NextRoll_Inc are all violating U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the advertising industry.
branded.checkmyads.org/p/its-wild-how…

Two weeks ago, the @USTreasury announced sanctions on four outlets it had identified as Russian-backed disinformation operations.

Naturally, the first thing we did was go hunting for ads. And boy, did we find ads. Nearly every major adtech co is sending $$ straight to Russia.

This isn't just a "brand safety" issue. These adtech companies are facilitating extremely illegal transactions on behalf of their advertiser clients.

Clients like @oldspice, @saks and @nikestore.

Some of these outlets were listed as national security threats by the @StateDept last summer. How did every single one of these adtech companies miss this?

The answer is simple: they genuinely have no fucking idea what they're doing.

state.gov/wp-content/upl…

But seriously, here's why: First, they fully rely on brand safety vendors like @OracleDataCloud, @integralads & @doubleverify to filter for "unsafe" content.

Problem is, their technology is incredibly limited. In fact, it's useless against most disinformation efforts.

Second, the men running adtech co's (and in charge of dispensing your ad spend) are openly ignorant of what disinformation is.

It's like they've never cracked open a book or watched a @BostonJoan talk. 🤔

Finally, the @wfamarketers - a powerful interest group for advertisers - has never bothered to include disinformation on their list of bad things they don't want their ads on.

How are you going to keep your ads off of disinfo if you can't even figure out a definition❓

Btw, the @4As has an EXCELLENT definition of disinformation + misinformation sitting on its website.

The work has been done. We can use this. What's the hold up at @wfamarketers? How long are we out to lunch?

aaaa.org/index.php?chec…

My gut tells me that GARM hasn't adopted this definition of disinformation because its members believe that disinformation and "fake news" is a matter of bias, opinions & free speech.

I'm sorry to say that is foolish and ignorant. They need to read a book too.

If we are going to stamp out disinformation from our ad buys, we're going to need to establish a working definition in this industry ASAP. Until then, we will be sponsoring all this by default:

•COVID disinfo
•anti-vaxx disinfo
•election disinfo
•conspiracy theories

Read the full piece here, subscribe and send it to your friends at the U.S. Treasury! ❤️

branded.checkmyads.org/p/its-wild-how…