In this report, NewsGuard provides data and examples demonstrating that advertising revenues stemming from major companies, such as American Express or Disney, funded the online disinformation campaigns that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol. This report also examines the measures that the advertising industry should implement in order to function more responsibility and to avoid funding online disinformation.
The report specifically highlights the fact that between October 2020 and January 2021, 1,688 brands ran 8,776 ads on the 160 websites flagged by NewsGuard’s “Election Misinformation Tracking Center” for having published false information and conspiracy theories about the U.S. elections. The report further underlines that the various actors involved in programmatic advertising do not provide brands with the adequate tools to avoid funding online disinformation.
