![Distrust in digital advertising has bottomed out, and issues with advertising quality and advertising media quality [Current status and issues of digital advertising, Hideyuki Nagasawa, Part 2 of the series]](https://i2.wp.com/cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/teaser/10155.jpeg?resize=355,253&ssl=1)
Digital advertising is rapidly evolving, with the latest methods and technologies such as generative AI being introduced one after another. On the other hand, serious issues such as the prevalence of spoofed advertisements and fraudulent advertisements have also come to light.
In this series, Hideyuki Nagasawa, executive director of the Quality Media Consortium and special advisor to BI.Garage Co., Ltd., takes a bird’s-eye view of the evolution of Internet advertising from its early days to the present day, and discusses the problems with modern digital advertising and its true nature. Explain the ideal form.
In this article, I would like to explore the current situation and challenges in ad distribution from the government’s response to impersonation fraud ads and the views of ad distribution platform operators.
Government response to impersonation fraud advertisements
The policy for dealing with impersonation fraud advertisements mentioned in the previous article was approved by the Cabinet on June 18th.
Source: Comprehensive measures to protect citizens from fraud Announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on June 18 (
https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/kenkyu/digital_space/02ryutsu02_04000493.html
) Document 23-2
Prime Minister Kishida’s statement at the Cabinet Meeting on Crime Prevention on June 18, 2020.
“In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in SNS-type investment scams and SNS-type romance scams in which people are tricked out of money in the name of investment by getting them to trust them through interactions through SNS and matching apps. With the spread of cashless payments, phishing damage and special scams that are changing their methods are becoming more and more serious, creating a sense of crisis. In light of this situation, in order to protect the people’s precious assets and to ensure an environment where they can invest with peace of mind, we need to use SNS, which has become an essential tool in the lives of the people. In order to ensure the soundness and reliability of fraud and cashless payments, we have compiled comprehensive countermeasures specifically for fraud in general for the first time as a government. This includes public relations and awareness raising, warning displays on SNS, cyber patrols regarding secret part-time job information, stricter identity verification using My Number cards when signing mobile phone contracts, and legal amendments to more accurately confiscate criminal proceeds. We will comprehensively promote measures to prevent criminals from becoming victims, preventing them from participating in crimes, depriving criminals of their tools, and preventing criminals from escaping, including countermeasures against crypto assets and thorough crackdowns including the exposure of overseas bases. In particular, to prevent the public from being harmed, effective public relations screening by SNS operators, prompt enforcement of the Information Distribution Platform Countermeasures Act, and prompt response to reports from the police, etc., should be taken to remove false advertisements. Please fundamentally strengthen countermeasures against false advertisements, such as promoting the promotion of false advertisements.In addition, in cooperation with Keidanren and other organizations, we will introduce sending domain authentication technology to prevent phishing and next-generation authentication technology at financial institutions, e-commerce sites, etc.・In addition to strongly promoting phishing sites, please strengthen technical approaches such as warnings through anti-virus software regarding unknown phishing sites.Private businesses should fulfill their social responsibilities to protect the public from fraud. We ask that you thoroughly implement measures based on these measures with strong determination.
The response policy was announced with comments from Prime Minister Kishida, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced requests for improvements to META and other companies, as well as requests for hearings from major SNS operators.
Source: Implementation of requests regarding response to spoof-type “false advertisements” on SNS, etc. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 6.21
(
https://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_news/s-news/01ryutsu02_02000411.html
)
It is thought that work will begin to consider specific laws and regulations for digital platform operators, including this one. In Nagasawa’s experience, this is the first time that the government has responded to a problem with internet media and advertising so quickly. I have also been interviewed by the Liberal Democratic Party Political Affairs Research Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, but they are too quick to judge. Internet media has become such an integral part of people’s lives that if the private sector cannot maintain order, they will not hesitate to intervene with the law, which is a sign of the global movement to regulate the Internet. The issue of impersonation fraud advertising is currently accelerating the debate regarding online advertising as a whole, and especially regarding operational system issues for digital platforms. I felt that the government is taking a strong stance from the perspective of national social issues, such as Internet issues that have been overlooked from the perspective of industrial promotion and global competition until now, but with the expansion of generative AI in mind, will be actively discussed.
Specific actions required of ad distribution players
In such an external environment, as the system for measuring the effectiveness of online advertising becomes standardized as a KPI for advertising effectiveness indicators in marketing, flaws in the quality of digital advertising that greatly undermine its credibility are becoming apparent. This is an expression of the so-called
“issue that is causing the trust value of digital advertising to fall to the bottom
.” The Japan Advertisers Association’s urgent proposal expresses a sense of crisis over the social problem of spoofed advertising, and the basis of the proposal is to “prevent the collapse and bottoming out of the credibility of digital advertising” in a broader scope. This is a perspective strongly requested from multiple stakeholders. Specifically, we are asking each player involved to take the following specific actions:
Source: Urgent recommendations regarding fraudulent advertising that has become a social problem Japan Advertisers Association (
https://www.jaa.or.jp/information/20240517-912/
)
■Platformer
In order for advertisers to post advertisements with peace of mind, they should take responsibility for quality control of the content of their own sites, the advertisements they handle, and the media in which they publish their advertisements. Given their influence, platformers used by many consumers need to ensure that the content they post in Japan, including advertisements, does not violate domestic laws or public order and morals. Specifically, content that violates related laws and regulations including criminal law and intellectual property law, content that clearly misleads or confuses consumers and harms their interests, and content that has a significant negative impact on the healthy growth of young people. Fake news and disinformation content that have a negative impact on people’s lives and the economy should not be left unattended, and should be taken as quickly as possible by deleting or hiding them. To this end, we believe it is necessary to have an examination system that firmly guarantees quality both globally and in Japan.
■Technology partners, media
Groups of media created to waste advertising costs, such as MFA (Made For Advertisement), media that publishes content with quality issues such as those listed above, and media that have problems with ad fraud and brand safety. Efforts should be made to ensure that this does not exist.
■Advertiser
Be aware of which media your company’s advertisements are placed on and where your money is being spent, and take the utmost care to ensure that funds do not flow to inappropriate media. Place advertisements in safe and secure media. Due to the use of programmatic digital advertising, many advertisers are unable to keep track of all the media in which their advertisements are posted. Among them, company advertisements are posted on websites that post content that violates laws and regulations (criminal law, intellectual property law, pharmaceutical and medical devices law, public appearance law, special commercial transaction law, etc.) and websites that disseminate fake news and disinformation. It is necessary to be aware of the possibility that this could result in a source of income for anti-social forces. In order to ensure brand safety, we will place advertisements in safe and secure media that produces high-quality content and continues to work tirelessly to earn the trust of users. Advertisers who pay for advertising must assume responsibility for this issue, manage risks, and take countermeasures.
■Agency, partner company
To prevent an advertiser’s advertisement from being posted in an unintended advertisement location, and provide appropriate services that do not damage the brand. Agencies and partner companies that are advertising experts should present the necessary measures to prevent advertisers from unintentionally placing advertisements in high-risk media. It is also necessary to provide appropriate advertising services that meet the quality required by advertisers.
Lastly, I would like to emphasize once again that advertisers who post digital advertisements have an important role to play. Advertisers who place advertisements themselves need to have a sense of ethics as a norm for society. One of our ethical roles is to be responsible for the destination of the advertisements we place. Advertising activities must be conducted while asking ourselves whether there are any movements that could lead to socially inappropriate activities such as ad fraud or brand damage. And if there is a problem, you have to deal with it without delay. Whether we as advertisers can continue to pursue healthy relationships with consumers depends on our actions now. That’s all
I read this as an expression of the Ad Association’s determination to strongly urge related players to take action to improve the quality control of digital advertising in order to continue to play its role as a core media for media advertising in marketing now and in the future. This is an urgent proposal that must be read carefully.
Quality assurance on advertising media and the impact of MFA sites
When I read this specific proposal, I realized that the Ad Association has a strong sense of crisis regarding
the quality and reliability of advertising media
. Naturally, there is a warning about the reliability of digital platform media that continues to publish impersonation fraudulent advertisements, but more than that, there is a
warning about the reliability of digital platform media that continues to publish impersonation fraudulent advertisements, but more than that, there are
This issue can be seen as a strong issue in that it calls attention to the structural flaw of ”
lack of guaranteeing the quality of publication media
” and urges related players to take corrective action. A typical example of this is an open marketplace ad network (an ad network that does not specify the advertising media. PMP = private marketplace), specifically the “advertising media” of ad networks such as Google’s GDN. It’s a matter of quality control.
Table 1: Flowchart of posting online advertisements
This has received a lot of attention in the United States due to the issue of ”
MFA sites
(media created in random order for the sole purpose of obtaining advertising revenue)”, and the Association of American Advertisers has defined its definition and has been sounding the alarm since last year.
It has been discovered that generation AI is being introduced to low-quality websites called “MFA” for advertising revenue purposes. Some sites are generating more than 1,200 articles a day, indicating that automation is progressing rapidly. More than 140 major brands are believed to be paying for advertising on untrustworthy AI-generated sites, perhaps unknowingly. 90% of the ads for big brands found on these AI-generated news sites were served by Google, which violates Google’s own policies. Not only is this a huge waste of advertising dollars, but it could also hasten the arrival of an internet filled with AI-generated content, glitches, and spam.
*Citation; 2023/06/28 MIT Technology Review
Table 2: Refer to MFA site advertisement placement examples
Table 3: Japan Newspaper Association MFA Opinion Statement
Even in Japan, the world’s second-largest internet advertising powerhouse, MFA is being rolled out right away, and the impact is becoming tangible, causing alarm bells to ring.
Table 4: Association of National Advertisers MFA site definition (Digiday 10.20)
In late September 2023, MFA was defined through a collaboration between the National Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), and the Institute of British Advertisers (ISBA). According to press releases issued by these industry groups, “MFA sites generally exhibit some combination of the following characteristics.”
Definitions are a starting point for negotiations and discussions, but the reality is As shown in Table 3, advertising on MFA is progressing. In particular, it cannot be denied that the MFA site may be an anti-social force such as the Internet Mafia, which uses Internet advertisements as a source of funds, as is the case with impersonation fraud advertisements, or an organization or foreign force whose purpose is to transmit and distribute large amounts of fake news. In other words, the reality is that the system of funding the operation of such sites through advertising costs is currently progressing. The Association of American Advertisers, JAA, and others have sounded the alarm that many advertisers are unaware that their ads are being posted on MFA sites. This is an advertising management system that is not reported and advertisers themselves do not check the sites on which their advertisements are posted. Naturally, this also applies to Japan. Last year’s Digital Advertiser Interview Survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry revealed that 70% of advertisers did not know about GDN’s advertising sites or read the advertising reports. (See Tables 5 and 6)
Table 5: Percentage of people who know where their online advertisements are published (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry survey)
Table 6: Online advertising distribution report (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry survey)
We believe that the reasons for this neglect of advertising media quality management are as follows.
1: As a result of click-prioritizing KPIs, media that generate clicks are good media, and even black media is good advertising media. 2: In order to generate those clicks, media from a wide variety of sites are collected into the programmatic advertising market. Lack of quality control of ad inventory (this is the responsibility of the ad intermediary platform)
3: The technical capabilities of malicious sites that easily break through blacklists and brand safety technology. This seems to be progressing rapidly with the use of generative AI (see Table 8).
Table 8: It is difficult to exclude ad delivery to MFA
In any case, unless advertisers change their awareness of the quality control of advertising media, the quality of digital advertising media will continue to be at rock bottom.
Naturally, the focus on quality control of products sold by digital ad intermediary platforms such as Google, which collects, manages, and distributes ad inventory, will be questioned as harshly as efforts to eliminate impersonation fraud ads. Furthermore, the responsibility of advertising companies, etc. that mediate advertising transactions is considered to be important. (See Table 7)
Table 7: About the entity managing the distribution destination of online advertisements (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry survey)
However, just like with impersonation scam ads, digital platforms have expressed difficulty in controlling the quality of the advertising media they serve. (See Table 9)
Table 9: Google’s views on ad distribution media management
Google has an overwhelming share of online advertising inventory on YouTube within the group and GDN, an ad distribution network outside the group, and has the best analysis technology including generation AI, so before you list out the theories, it is important to understand the I think we should take absolute responsibility for quality control, and I think this is the social responsibility of the world’s largest information distribution company. Whether it’s cars or smartphones, companies like Toyota and Apple spend the most time and money on user safety management, which is a natural social responsibility of product providers. If it doesn’t work, society will criticize it.
This topic is a little off topic from advertising, but I am currently speaking at a meeting held by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to consider ways to improve the health of the digital information distribution space (
https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/kenkyu/digital_space/index. html
), an in-depth discussion regarding the management of fake information flowing in the digital information space is progressing. Amidst this, there is a lot of heated debate about how to eliminate fake information, including the state of fact-based information. Google, META, and X (twitter) also received interviews.
As expected, the debate is centered on the extent to which platforms distributing digital information should bear information responsibility and how to eliminate fake information. This is a discussion about countermeasures against fake information that is currently progressing almost simultaneously around the world. This is a study meeting that should be closely watched, as it also includes advertising issues. I believe that digital platforms are also trusted information media from users’ perspective, and digital platforms are responsible for entrusting that trust.On this premise, platformers are able to form an ecosystem and monetize. We are focusing on the state of social responsibility in this regard.
However, the MFA issue poses not only a platform issue but also the essential issues of online advertising when positioning online advertising. The following is the most interesting article in last year’s MFA problem report in the United States (from Digiday magazine)
Tom Triscali, a programmatic advertising consultant, also participated in the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) recent report on programmatic advertising, including MFA. According to him
“Brands have the freedom to choose whether or not to buy advertising on MFA sites, and the same goes for whether or not to verify it with log data.”
Potentially the most important reason
is advertisers’ unreasonable demands for extremely high-performing, low-cost advertising. Such advertisements do not exist in reality.
So MFA was invented.
However, the problem is that while the ads on MFA sites are certainly cheap, on the other hand, they are sites packed with ads, so you can expect a large number of clicks and impressions.
This is perfect for marketers who prioritize short-term profit pursuits.
This narrow-minded, efficiency-oriented idea is
the main idea of how to use online advertising today
, and it has given rise to the idea that even poor inventory is OK on the advertising intermediary platform side, causing a bottom-up in the quality of online advertising. This is the reality. And no one can stop the flow. I can’t stop it. As a result, this is a vicious cycle that is producing a large number of users who hate online advertising, which I will discuss in the next series.
Behind this is the fact that advertisers and advertising companies still lack awareness of the issues facing online advertising. Even with the issue of ad fraud, which has been talked about for some time, it seems that there is no progress in changing the mindset of advertisers. (JICDAQ survey data tables 13 and 14)
Table 13: Advertiser awareness towards ad fraud, etc. 1 (JICDAQ survey)
Table 14: Advertiser awareness towards ad fraud, etc. 2 (JICDAQ survey)
In Japan in particular, it is said that there are many advertisers who pursue short-term profits compared to the United States (see Table 15).
Table 15: Differences in internet advertising indicators between Japan and the US
Platforms also tend to avoid responsibility. (See Table 12)
Table 12: LINEYahoo’s view on ad fraud
I would like to pay tribute to the Japan Advertisers Association’s urgent proposal for daring to make a difference in this situation. The opinion expressed by Yamaguchi Digital Media Chairman of the AD Association at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications review committee that I mentioned earlier resonated with many of the committee members, including teachers and people in the industry. I would like to introduce the slides expressing that opinion below. Please pay attention.
Reference: Materials distributed by the Study Group (12th meeting) on how to ensure the soundness of information distribution in the digital space *Working group (7th meeting) jointly held “Document 12-1”
(
https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/kenkyu/digital_space/02ryutsu02_04000442.html
)
summary
The current state of digital advertising and fake information Normally, in other media, the “advertisement quality” is not controlled, whereas the credibility of the media itself is controlled. Even when fake advertisements are introduced, the methods used to deceive them have become more sophisticated and high-tech, making it difficult for users to distinguish between authenticity and falsehood, leading to real damage.
Users also recognize DPF as ordinary media.
The echo chamber created by the attention economy and personalized targeting is being exploited by fakes. User literacy is usually not enough to detect this problem.
Normally, in other media, the “quality of content” of network advertisement distribution destinations, which is trust-managed by the advertisement distribution source, is not properly managed. (Including MFA)
Advertisers believe that the DPF manages ad delivery destinations, and there are many cases in which they do not check the safety of the delivery destinations, raising questions about the quality of online advertising itself. The negative effects of online advertising’s emphasis on clicks and personal targeting, which ignores the placement of advertisements, are becoming apparent. The situation can be improved simply by changing your way of thinking and making efforts to confirm the situation. (See Table 10)
Table 10: MFA US status report
DPF’s advertising and content management technology has not kept up with the increasing sophistication of fraudulent advertising technology such as spoofed fake advertising and article news type fake advertising, or the cost is not being spent.
The DPF ecosystem is one of profiting and disseminating fake information. Are you prioritizing ensuring platform profitability over ensuring information security?
In the next installment of this series, I would like to write about the reality of users’ dislike of online advertising, which has resulted from a bottom-up in the quality of online advertising, and the countermeasures.