“Yoko Ono: ‘I Had An Affair With Hillary Clinton In The ’70s,’” read the headline in World News Daily Report, a website that peddles made-up stories. Next to the story? An ad for the 2017 Ram 1500 truck, made by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. Big brands, often inadvertently, are helping fund the websites at the center of a growing controversy...
Big brands are inadvertently funding websites with fake content due to the complexity of online advertising that often leaves advertisers unaware of where their ads appear. Online ad exchanges are trying to address the problem: AppNexus banned ads on the right-wing site Breitbart and Google will stop placing ads on sites with "deceptive or misrepresentative" content. However, identifying fake news sites is complicated since they may also include opinion pieces and true stories. In addition, because ad-tech companies make money when ads are shown, there is little incentive to block sites, according to independent ad-fraud researcher, Augustine Fou.