What do the war in Ukraine, toilet cleaner, and the dying news industry have in common? In short: online ads.
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Cherise Seucharan
Reporter, CANADALAND
Jonathan Goldsbie
News Editor
Tristan Capacchione
Audio Editor & Technical Producer
Sarah Lawrynuik
Senior Producer
Kieran Oudshoorn
Managing Editor, Podcasts
Hosted by Jesse Brown
The digital advertising industry is worth billions, but many companies don’t actually know where their ad dollars end up. Programmatic ad exchanges and other third-party platforms have enabled companies to buy ads without the hassle of going to each seller. But in doing so, these ad exchanges have opened the door for fake news and disinformation sites to profit. As reporter Cherise Seucharan finds out, it has become easier and easier for these sites to proliferate, while real news websites lose out.
Featured in this episode:
Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, co-founders of Check My Ads; Augustine Fou, anti-ad fraud consultant; Danny Rogers, co-founder and executive director at The Global Disinformation Index
“There were people who came in here to tell me I'm a dog. But there are lots of other people who are here having a conversation and lots of other people who made it possible for us to continue to have the conversation.”
-Chrystia Freeland
It was three weeks after my honeymoon and it was a little kind of like, "The honeymoon is over, honey. I'm going, into an Ebola outbreak.”
-Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ric Bienstock
I think we need to respect what the families want and not force them to do something for anybody else but their own healing and their own search for justice. -Kisha Supernant, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alberta
“Journalists ruined your reputation, not with evidence, with a narrative. And when they come for you, there's no way to fight back… until now. Introducing Objection!” -ad for Objection.ai
