Hello, folks!

Well, it wouldn't be another week without Breitbart trying to worm its way deeper into the advertising ecosystem. 

In November, Nandini got the site kicked off four exchanges. How much damage did that do? Enough for Breitbart to have to hunt for new partners. And earlier this week, we saw they found one: LiveIntent. The new partnership didn't last long after we pointed it out.

Later that same day, a source close to LiveIntent told Nandini that Breitbart would be dropped from their inventory and that “it should not have been let through.”

And then:

Just a little reminder for Breitbart that we're always watching 😇

Here's what else we've been paying attention to this week.

A new tactic to deny election deniers

Fox’s biggest names spouted lies about the 2020 elections — and now one organization is working to get a Fox Corp.-owned station’s broadcast license terminated over it.

The Media And Democracy Project is petitioning the FCC to deny the renewal of FOX 29 Philadelphia’s broadcast license, on the grounds that Fox Corp. can’t be relied on to be truthful with the public. Does broadcasting content that lies about election results sound like something that would meet the FCC’s “character qualification” to you? Didn’t think so.

You can support MAD’s efforts to get an FCC hearing by signing this letter, which will be delivered to the commission.

A lawsuit against Meta to watch 👀

Looks a whole lot like Meta has been duping advertisers and profiting from placing ads next to content promoting child sexual exploitation. In a legal filing this week, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez revealed correspondence between Meta, Walmart, and Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge. Walmart and Match contacted Meta last fall, concerned that their ads were appearing alongside sexualized images of children. The filing also says Match advertisements were featured in a Facebook group that featured graphic violence against women. Meta failed to address their concerns, instead brushing it off as a small failure with its ad-serving algorithm.

We’ve seen this time and time again: Platform promises advertisers brand safety that they can’t deliver on because of their lax content moderation. Yet again brand safety “technology” is being used to trick advertisers into working with platforms that are harmful to our communities. We’ll definitely be watching how this lawsuit unfolds.

The WEF sees mis- and disinformation as the biggest short-term threat

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report for 2024 is out and it paints a picture of a treacherous road ahead. It found optimism in “short supply” and mis- and disinformation as the biggest near-term threat, with extreme weather and societal polarization as the biggest over the long term.

We agree that all of these are areas of concern, and are already pushing back against disinformation and climate denialism entering the advertising supply chain. So while the WEF report may have found optimism in "short supply," they obviously didn't ask us!

We remain energized by our community, the work we've done in the past, and what we've got planned for this year. Thank you for being with us!

Hugs,

Claire & Nandini

Claire & Nandini