Investigation Shows Brands Like Nike, Amazon And ASOS Are Being Advertised On COVID Conspiracy Sites

Tel Aviv, Israel - July 19, 2014: High-top classic Nike AF-1 basketball shoes/sneakers, a classic timeless design originally from the 1980's - illustrative editorial
B&T Magazine
Edited by B&T Magazine



A new report from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed that ads for major brands like Nike, Amazon and ASOS are appearing on COVID-19 and anti-vaccination conspiracy sites.

The Bureau’s research spanned the course of three months, in which they found ads for major brands, as well as government sites like the UK’s National Health Service and US’s Department of Veteran Affairs, displayed on 60 websites which peddled disinformation.

Due to the opaque nature of the ad-buying process, companies are frequently unaware that their marketing is being hosted on un-ethical or disinformation-spreading sites. The responsibility for this ad placement largely comes down to third-party companies, such as Google.

As a result, brands often don’t keep track of where their ads are being placed, instead relying on the ad space buyers instead.

The sites peddling misinformation then also profit off the ad spend.

Independent ad fraud researcher Dr Augustine Fou told The Bureau this advertising is helping legitimise these conspiracy sites.

“Because they now have a source of funding, they can not only survive but also proliferate,” he says. “And that’s why we’re seeing this huge problem.”

Fou also called on the brand advertisers to exercise more diligence when buying programmatic ads, rather than relying on an ad exchange to execute brand safety protocols.

“All these middlemen, they’re intermediaries … so any dollar that flows through their platforms, they make more money,” Fou says. “They don’t have an incentive to cut down […] on the brand safety issues. In fact, they have every incentive to let it through.”

Rocky Moss at Deepsee.io, a brand quality platform, used crawlers to assess ads delivered by Google. Moss discovered almost 30 big brands which had their ads on at least two misinformation sites.

A spokesperson for Google told The Bureau that it took action against websites that went against its misinformation policy.




Latest News

Nielsen Data Reveals Brands Spending Big To Attract Aussie Tourists
  • Advertising

Nielsen Data Reveals Brands Spending Big To Attract Aussie Tourists

Nielsen Ad Intel data has revealed that the travel and tourism industry spent more than $153 million on advertising in Australia in Q1, 2024 – an increase of 8 per cent from the previous quarter, with TripADeal the biggest spender, followed by Virgin Australia, then the Flight Centre-owned Ignite Travel. As many Australians return from […]

Cosmo Returns To Australia!
  • Media

Cosmo Returns To Australia!

Ever get the feeling we've weirdly warped back to 1988 at the moment? Confirm it with the relaunch of Cosmo in print.