What do the war in Ukraine, toilet cleaner, and the dying news industry have in common? In short: online ads.
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Cherise Seucharan
Reporter, CANADALAND
Jonathan Goldsbie
News Editor
Tristan Capacchione
Audio Editor & Technical Producer
Sarah Lawrynuik
Senior Producer
Kieran Oudshoorn
Managing Editor, Podcasts
Hosted by Jesse Brown
The digital advertising industry is worth billions, but many companies don’t actually know where their ad dollars end up. Programmatic ad exchanges and other third-party platforms have enabled companies to buy ads without the hassle of going to each seller. But in doing so, these ad exchanges have opened the door for fake news and disinformation sites to profit. As reporter Cherise Seucharan finds out, it has become easier and easier for these sites to proliferate, while real news websites lose out.
Featured in this episode:
Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, co-founders of Check My Ads; Augustine Fou, anti-ad fraud consultant; Danny Rogers, co-founder and executive director at The Global Disinformation Index
“ Here is what I would've done if I was Mark Carney, right? Just let it be out there. If you really have nothing to hide, don't hide.” - Professor Partha Mohanram
“...the tentacles of party discipline and party control have completely grabbed a hold of everybody and they have a really hard time breaking free. We just no longer have politicians who can speak their minds, politicians who can stand up on behalf of their constituents.” -Alex Marland, author of Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada
“ …the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt right individuals, ideologies, and influences that have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, fear, and intimidation over our Council, our staff, our residents, and indeed the broader community.”
- Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe
“We cannot treat libraries as organs of propaganda, and whether it's for progressive values or for conservative values, we should not be treating libraries as simply the PR department for the kind of ideology that we believe in, and trying to ban everything else.” - Ira Wells, author of “On Book Banning”
We take a dumpster dive to look at all the legislation that got thrown out when Trudeau prorogued Parliament. Jesse tests the theory that one person’s trash is another’s treasure.
