X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has launched new “pre-bid Adjacency Controls” in collaboration with Integral Ad Science (IAS) to help ensure advertisers’ posts don’t end up next to dodgy content.
X said that more than 1,900 global advertisers use the solution to avoid adjacency to undesired keywords and handles and it has a more than 99 per cent efficacy rate.
X is also expanding its partnership with IAS to offer US advertisers “premium, vetted inventory” within the context of the GARM Safety & Suitability Framework.
“X has made tremendous progress in building brand safety tools that empower advertisers to leverage the power of their platform while curating the context in which the ads appear. Adding pre-bid meets a critical commitment made by their leadership and we are eager to implement this new feature going forward,” said Jon Halvorson, SVP, consumer experience, Mondelez International.
It has also added new “Sensitivity Settings” that uses machine learning to reduce unwanted adjacency.
Of course, if X has the tools to avoid advertisers’ posts appearing next to hate speech using machine learning — surely it could just remove the hate speech?
Regardless, with X’s ad revenue through the floor following Elon Musk’s takeover — largely due to concerns over brand safety and a lack of stability — are these tools an olive branch from the South African businessman to an industry he has previously said he hated?
I hate advertising
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2019
