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Trust But Verify
An Instagram fraud scheme used free-to-set-up music creator personas on Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer and a spattering of sponsored posts and press releases to convince Instagram to dish out blue-check verifications to hundreds of undeserving or outright fraudulent accounts since 2021, ProPublica reports. More than 300 accounts have been removed already.
This type of scam has been surfacing a lot lately.
Earlier this month, the newsletter Pea Bee documented dozens of Indian wannabe influencers/run-of-the-mill web hustlers who gamed the Google algorithm into giving them “Knowledge Boxes” on search results that present them as legit actors and creators. Astroturfing helped them boost their fake-it-till-you-make-it effort on social media. That scheme used free IMDb accounts and a press release service promo that offered one free post. Combined with corroborating YouTube and Spotify accounts, this was sufficient to earn the Knowledge Box.
At about the same time, Twitter was plagued by scammers that hacked, bought or repurposed out-of-use blue-checked accounts. They DMed users purporting to be Twitter customer support to say there had been suspicious account log-in activity or the account was suspended for an alleged policy infraction.
Flixing A New Muscle
Difficult as it may be to imagine an ad-supported Netflix, the new ad business is beginning to take shape.
First, Netflix selected Microsoft as its go-to SSP and sales vendor. Now, Netflix is emptying Snap’s advertising team to populate its own.
Jeremi Gorman, Snap’s now-former chief business officer and a former Amazon ad sales exec, will become Netflix’s president of worldwide advertising, according to The Verge. She’ll report to Netflix COO Greg Peters. Advertising may be the shiny new thing at Netflix, but it hasn’t made it to CEO-direct reporting status just yet.
Peter Naylor, Snap’s former VP of sales (and a former ad sales executive at Hulu and NBCU) is joining Gorman in making the jump from Snap to Netflix, where he’ll be VP of ad sales.
“Jeremi’s deep experience in running ad businesses and Peter’s background in leading ad sales teams together will be key as we expand membership options for consumers through a new ad-supported offering,” according to a statement from Netflix’s Peters.
Relatedly, Snap announced a major restructuring this week, with 20% layoffs and pullbacks across many teams, following a year when its share prices dropped 80%.
In It Together?
Lawyers aren’t the only ones fretting over content moderation.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is asking brands to take an #EngageResponsibly pledge that involves definitive actions against hate speech, including periodically pausing ad spend or donating to support causes.
Brands can only do so much to cut down on hate speech online overall, but they might as well try. The US Better Business Bureau and Ogilvy just signed onto the ANA’s initiative on Tuesday, joining the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.
The plan is to launch a website with educational programs and resources about combating hate speech by the end of the year, Mediapost reports.
Responsibility for content moderation typically falls on publishers because they’re the last line of defense between consumers and content.
But brands can lose customers to a bad user experience, too, so they’re not off the hook. At the very least, they can vow to spend their money in well-lit environments.
But Wait, There’s More!
Podcasters are running tests to see if offering bonus content and additional features will help grow subscriptions. [Digiday]
Advertisers complain about rampant account bans and misfires on Facebook. [Insider]
Why even cool kid TikTok isn’t safe from media-industry-wide layoffs. [Marketing Brew]
Pew Research: Climate, misinformation and cyberattacks are top-of-mind issues. [release]
What’s the right talent mix for Disney’s board? [WSJ]
