Item — HN Reader

Scams in online advertising are ubiquitous, I'm amazed adtech companies don't seem to see any consequences for it. I really think there needs to be an onus on online advertisers to prove that the products and services they promote are not scams before anything gets exposed to the public.

I see adblockers as essential security tools at this point, however you dress it up one of the main functions of adtech in the present seems to be connecting literal conmen with their marks as efficiently as possible.

4 comments

> I see adblockers as essential security tools at this point

The FBI agrees.

> Use an ad blocking extension when performing internet searches. Most internet browsers allow a user to add extensions, including extensions that block advertisements. These ad blockers can be turned on and off within a browser to permit advertisements on certain websites while blocking advertisements on others.

https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2022/PSA221221

Well, this also needs to be on website publishers who use ads from vendors that don't guarantee that the ads are not scams. Bad ads on any site should have equal treatment to bad content, and should be considered as published by that site (not by the actual ad vendor, i.e., no way to shift responsibility, only to share).

That is, what we need is a rule: N scam ad impressions on my blog (even if they come from a third-party ad provider) = knock-knock from the police at my door as if I were writing scammy blog articles.

How would you police what is a scam vs not practically? In the wrong hands, a malicious actor could forward a narrative

Curious to think that the billion dollar profits, and 6-figure salaries, are earned by scamming people out of their money. Via an intermediary which is the scammer paying for ads on your platform, the money they have through by scamming people in the first place.

Yeah I suppose that's a certain %, the rest of it is ads from e.g. booking.com if you google "hotel california", and other not-really-scam companies. But a pie chart of "Profits made from ads from legitimate company" vs "Scammy ads" would be interesting.