Swordsmyth
02-01-2018, 11:22 PM
A scheme by the publisher of Newsweek and the International Business Times to buy fraudulent traffic in order to help secure a major ad contract from a US government agency has come to light in a new report (http://socialpuncher.com/media/files/CFPB-IBTimes-Case-by-Socialpuncher.pdf) released by independent ad fraud researchers.
According to the report, IBTimes.com won a major video and display advertising contract from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) - a federal oversight agency created six years ago as the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren. Social Puncher, a consulting firm that investigates online ad fraud, notes in its report that "ads purchased by the CFPB were displayed to an audience that includes a significant amount of "cheap junk traffic with a share of bots"- effectively defrauding the agency.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/ads3_0.jpg
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/adspend1.JPGsocialpuncher.com
When it comes to IBT’s fraudulent traffic practices, Social Puncher’s findings (http://socialpuncher.com/) align with reporting from BuzzFeed News on IBT India, and with separate data gathered by Pixalate, an ad fraud detection company, and DoubleVerify, a digital media measurement company. (Social Puncher and BuzzFeed News previously collaborated (https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/remember-tom) on ad fraud investigations, but worked separately in this case.)
Based on what it described as a detailed investigation, DoubleVerify this week classified IBT’s US, UK, India, and Singapore sites as “as having fraud or sophisticated invalid traffic,” according COO Matt McLaughlin. DoubleVerify is now blocking all ad impressions on these sites on behalf of customers.
In response to questions from BuzzFeed News, Newsweek Media Group, the parent company of IBT, acknowledged it purchases audiences from ad networks that sell pop-up and pop-under traffic. It said this traffic represents a “small percentage of traffic on our sites” and denied any fraudulent activity. -Buzzfeed (https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/the-publisher-of-newsweek-and-the-international-business?utm_term=.suDyy4lM1#.cl7eevxyO)
“We use third-party platforms to verify and filter this traffic to ensure it is of the highest quality. This verification process prevents poor-quality traffic being redirected to our sites and we consistently score highly on various third-party ad verification platforms,” the company said. It declined to name the third-party verification partners it works with.
The CFPB, now headed by Trump appointee Mick Mulvaney, told BuzzFeed News that the bureau is looking into the allegations.
More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-01/newsweek-publisher-caught-defrauding-gov-agency-ad-revenue-scheme
According to the report, IBTimes.com won a major video and display advertising contract from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) - a federal oversight agency created six years ago as the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren. Social Puncher, a consulting firm that investigates online ad fraud, notes in its report that "ads purchased by the CFPB were displayed to an audience that includes a significant amount of "cheap junk traffic with a share of bots"- effectively defrauding the agency.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/ads3_0.jpg
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/adspend1.JPGsocialpuncher.com
When it comes to IBT’s fraudulent traffic practices, Social Puncher’s findings (http://socialpuncher.com/) align with reporting from BuzzFeed News on IBT India, and with separate data gathered by Pixalate, an ad fraud detection company, and DoubleVerify, a digital media measurement company. (Social Puncher and BuzzFeed News previously collaborated (https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/remember-tom) on ad fraud investigations, but worked separately in this case.)
Based on what it described as a detailed investigation, DoubleVerify this week classified IBT’s US, UK, India, and Singapore sites as “as having fraud or sophisticated invalid traffic,” according COO Matt McLaughlin. DoubleVerify is now blocking all ad impressions on these sites on behalf of customers.
In response to questions from BuzzFeed News, Newsweek Media Group, the parent company of IBT, acknowledged it purchases audiences from ad networks that sell pop-up and pop-under traffic. It said this traffic represents a “small percentage of traffic on our sites” and denied any fraudulent activity. -Buzzfeed (https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/the-publisher-of-newsweek-and-the-international-business?utm_term=.suDyy4lM1#.cl7eevxyO)
“We use third-party platforms to verify and filter this traffic to ensure it is of the highest quality. This verification process prevents poor-quality traffic being redirected to our sites and we consistently score highly on various third-party ad verification platforms,” the company said. It declined to name the third-party verification partners it works with.
The CFPB, now headed by Trump appointee Mick Mulvaney, told BuzzFeed News that the bureau is looking into the allegations.
More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-01/newsweek-publisher-caught-defrauding-gov-agency-ad-revenue-scheme