Ziva Branstetter
New #journalism from @ProPublica: In the nearly half-trillion-dollar digital ad industry, Google is the only major platform that hides the vast majority of its ad-selling partners. We spent months prying open this black box & found scores of previously unreported peddlers of pirated content, porn & fake audiences that take advantage of Google’s lax oversight to rake in revenue. #technology #google #news #manga https://www.propublica.org/article/google-display-ads-piracy-porn-fraud
Porn, Piracy, Fraud: What Lurks Inside Google’s Black Box Ad Empire

Google’s ad business hides nearly all publishers it works with and where billions of ad dollars flow. We uncovered a network containing manga piracy, porn, fraud and disinformation.

ProPublica
Dec 21, 2022 at 8:17pmWeb
Show threadZiva BranstetterDec 21, 2022
Would sincerely appreciate a boost of this story if you think it’s important. One interesting aspect: A few years ago, Google pushed for greater transparency in the digital ad business. Today, while its competitors disclose nearly all of their publishing partners, about 90 percent of Google’s inventory remains blinded.
Show threadtoxtethogradyDec 21, 2022
@zivabranstetter The "fake audiences" aspect of the story is depressingly familiar, as it seems to be what opinion-mongers (Russian bots, Trump, Musk) thrive on. I also noted that for some reason, Facebook was sending me a lot of ads trying to sell me body armor and tac gear. I clapped back at one vendor, wondering why they were selling stuff that only school shooters and paranoid types would want, and they went into a lengthy dissertation about how we were all going to need their gear...
Show threadZiva BranstetterDec 21, 2022
@ProPublica wow 94 boosts already! I ❤️ y’all.
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEDec 21, 2022
@zivabranstetter @ProPublica I did experiment with advertising on Google for a while, but I decided that approximately 100% of clicks were fake and didn't stay there very long.
Show threadNathan Lowell (he/him) 📎Dec 21, 2022

@zivabranstetter @ProPublica

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, to learn that there's gambling in this establishment.

Show threadkeplernikoDec 21, 2022

@zivabranstetter @ProPublica I’m old enough to remember when Google were the good guys* with ads, the ones serving up text-only ads that were relevant to what you were viewing, compared with pop-overs, pop-unders and Flash galore.

* I suppose they were always the bad guys, we just didn’t realise it back then

Show threadThirdThoughtsDec 22, 2022
@zivabranstetter @ProPublica I've long been of the opinion that one of the main drivers behind the explosion of right wing disinformation is ad fraud. Great to see Check My Ads given a shout out, they've been doing great work and research in this space
Show threada1Dec 22, 2022
@zivabranstetter @ProPublica Google has lost it’s “don’t do evil” motto long ago.
Show threadfedezanDec 22, 2022
@zivabranstetter @ProPublica
Interessante articolo di inchiesta su come funziona la rete pubblicitaria di Google
Show threadJoanna Bryson, blatheringDec 22, 2022
@zivabranstetter @ProPublica don't forget how much money that is, and where it seems to have come from (I'm not usually into zero-sum explanations but)