Facebook Sues Over Ads Linked To Malware; DOOH Is On The Rise

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Politically Incorrect

Facing major pushback on its policy, Facebook is considering labeling political ads to indicate whether or not they have been fact-checked. Neither Democrats nor Republicans are pleased with the solution, feeling it could hurt their ability to reach and mobilize voters, The Washington Post reports. After staunchly refusing to fact-check political ads, Facebook is reconsidering its political ad policy after removing Trump campaign ads that spread false information about Democratic rival Joe Biden. The company hasn’t made any final decisions and is also considering limiting the number of ads a candidate can run at one time, blacking out political ads 72 hours before an election, increasing the minimum size of targeting cohorts and requiring campaigns to share authoritative backup documents for claims made in ads. More.

Throw The Book At Them

On another crisis front, Facebook is taking action against an ad network that used malware and deceptive ads to hoodwink users and Facebook’s ad system. Facebook filed a suit against ILikeAd Media, a Hong Kong-based mobile marketing company, and two executives, the company said in a blog post. ILikeAd Media used a “celeb bait” strategy, where unlicensed images of celebrities or from pop culture are used to entice clicks, and ads falsely display URLs from well-known news brands, when users are in fact sent to landing pages rife with malware. Such cloaking schemes are sophisticated and, even when a malware network is discovered, the individuals responsible are cloaked in layers of anonymity. “Creating real world consequences for those who deceive users and engage in cloaking schemes is important in maintaining the integrity of our platform,” write Facebook executives Jessica Romero and Rob Leathern.

Out-Of-Home Rising

Adform and Broadsign, an SSP for digital out-of-home media, debuted a programmatic integration. It’s one of many digital out-of-home integrations this year, as outdoor media proves its staying power. OOH is the only traditional media category still growing – the GroupM annual US advertising forecast published this week had radio flat and TV, direct mail and print shrinking, but OOH up 8%. Outdoor media is boosted by a few macro-trends. For one thing, people have packed into cities, where OOH inventory is concentrated and there are favorable population density and footfall metrics. Location data and mobile campaign extensions also give OOH companies a way to retarget or attribute campaigns. And there’s been a rapid expansion of DOOH inventory, which is dynamic and plugs into the RTB ecosystem. Broadsign, for instance, curates inventory from digital screens in places like malls, airports and healthcare centers, not static billboards. “Momentum for DOOH has built rapidly over the last year,” Adform VP of global commercial partnerships Filippo Gramigna told ExchangeWire. “With consumers increasingly showing a strong preference for highly engaging visuals for the discovery and education phase, DOOH is an ideal platform for video which is where we currently see the biggest budgets for programmatic spend allocated.” More.

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