Media release

From: Springer Nature

Economics: Advertising may fund misinformation, despite consumer backlash

Companies in industries such as healthcare, technology and insurance have been found to advertise on misinformation websites, according to an analysis published in Nature. In a related experiment, consumers who were made aware that a company advertised on a misinformation website were likely to reject an offer of a gift voucher to spend with that company.

The majority of digital advertisement placement on the internet is done via an algorithm-based distribution platform, which may place advertisements on misinformation websites. As such, companies may be inadvertently financing the misinformation economy as they pay to have advertisements for their products and services listed on these websites.

Wajeeha Ahmad and colleagues collected advertising data from 5,485 websites between 2019 and 2021. They found that 74.5% of websites hosting misinformation received funding from advertisements by companies across several industries, including holding companies, media companies, household products, technology, and digital and print publishing. The authors found that the companies advertising on misinformation websites accounted for anywhere from 46% to 82% of overall companies in their respective industries. Ahmad and colleagues also found that companies that used digital advertisement platforms were 10 times more likely to appear on misinformation websites than those that did not.

To gauge consumer response to these advertisement trends, the authors carried out a survey of 4,039 individuals. They found that participants presented with a US $25 gift card from a first-choice company would switch their reward to a different company when presented with the knowledge that their first choice advertised on misinformation websites. This level of response was most pronounced in women and left-leaning consumers. The researchers also surveyed 442 decision-makers, including executives and managers, at companies that advertised on misinformation websites and found that among those who appeared in their data, only 36% had correct beliefs about their company appearing on misinformation websites.

Ahmad and colleagues suggest that digital advertisement platforms could allow advertisers to have easier access to data on whether their advertisements have been placed on misinformation websites, which may reduce the financing of online misinformation. They add that such platforms could increase transparency for consumers to more readily identify which companies advertise on misinformation websites.