How To Determine Where Online Ads Are Funded
The thing about the internet is that it’s made to make money. Money gives a lot of priority to the information you can find quickly when you do a Google search or search any major social media platform (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok). That first website that comes up, that advertisement you see while scrolling—those are money talking, not quality, and not truth. Therefore, it’s important to be skeptical of any “ad”-labeled or “promoted” information.
The first step on the trail to investigating just whether or not sponsored information is true is to look for the network that placed the advertisement: on display ads, meaning website banners on the top of and bottom of a page, the name of the ad network can be found on the top right corner. Content ads—the ads found in the middle of a website—will usually have the network placed conspicuously either on the ad itself or underneath. From there, you can begin your search.
Next up, investigate that network, because it’s likely related to the corporation funding it. You can find out more information by clicking on the network’s “donate” links, “to see if it reveals more about the name, company or individual requesting money, and gathering possible contacts to build a network for investigation,” said ProPublica reporter Craig Silverman in a master class with the Knight Center for Journalism In The Americas.
From there, research former employees of that parent company and try to contact them. If they are legally able to give you any documentation on where that corporation’s money goes, you’ll have some evidence to at least point you in the right direction of who is funding disinformation.
There’s also the possibility of looking into the ads.txt files on the website where you first saw the ad: every website that sells advertising space contains coding that says who exactly is allowed to advertise, and who is involved with any linked ads available on the page. The Ghostery browser plug-in automatically scans ads and unveils their public financial ties. Google also requires advertisers to verify their identities in order to run and monetize ads. This information is all enough to begin an investigation.
Where exactly are we hoping this investigation will take us? A lot of journalists have already compiled lists of websites that are tied to disinformation or deceptive content. It is probably the revenue streams used to fund these websites that connect to a greater entity: some of these entities are foreign governments, like the Russian government; some of them are “hidden,” meaning they are anonymous individuals or corporations. Since disinformation campaigns are hyper-generative and pervasive, the amount of websites spreading disinformation are too: but these websites often share a common backer.
Disinformation funders coordinate. Looking for patterns of coordination could undermine and eventually break the hold that misinformation and disinformation campaigns have over contemporary society. Continuing and sharing investigations into these coordinated efforts and holding those funding them responsible is an important step for the future of journalism in the information age.
