Ad Tech Amid The Ukraine-Russia Information War

Alongside the war on the ground, a different kind of war has taken place in the cyber space – an information war. In this study we examine hundreds of disinfo outlets that continue to publish and amplify propaganda, as advertisers are caught in the crossfire.

While major outlets like RT and Sputnik have been banned by the ad platforms, we have found hundreds of less known surrogates that spread and amplify the same content from RT and Sputnik under the radar. These sites have hundreds and even millions of monthly visits and they continue to serve ads from major ad platforms.

The findings emphasize the pitfalls of domain-based block lists which are limited in scale and fail in protecting brand safety, as harmful content finds its way to avoid scrutiny in a whack-a-mole type dynamic. In comparison, more advanced AI-based content understanding methods allow to achieve scale and address the long tail of news and content distribution on the Web.

The study aims to provide more transparency and shed light on this phenomenon whereby advertising money is unwittingly funding content that is not aligned with brand values