Starving disinformation profiteers
TrustList is a platform for brands to conduct impression-level audits of their digital marketing spend to ensure they do not fund disinformation or misinformation websites. Our goal is to provide a trusted environment for brands to advertise their products and services.
A billion dollar problem
Up to 15% of the $88bn global programmatic market is being sucked out of the media ecosystem by Made for Advertising profiteers, stealing attention from readers and money from advertisers on destinations that often promote misinformation, disinformation or clickbait.
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TrustList starves profiteers of money by providing media buyers and brands with real-time warnings if they try place programmatic advertising with ‘red-listed’ online media that have been flagged as guilty of systematic disinformation infractions, or alternatively with ‘grey-listed’ media flagged as vulnerable to disinfo amplification due to weak internal editorial systems.
South Africa’s largest media association, the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF), will drive adoption in newsrooms, while the Internet Advertising Bureau-SA (IAB-SA) will secure buy-in from 150+ major advertising brands and media buyers.
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TrustList is funded through a Google News Initiative (GNI) grant. GNI works with publishers and journalists to fight misinformation, share resources and build a diverse and innovative news ecosystem.
TRUSTLIST SOLVES THIS
By using machine learning and robust AI tools to review every website and page that an ad has appeared on, TrustList can create a rich audit that allows advertisers to easily update their permission lists.
Digital Marketing Audits
Our platform allows brands to conduct impression-level audits of their digital marketing spend. We provide detailed reports to ensure your ads are not placed in disinformation or misinformation websites.
Brand Safety Solutions
Our team of experts provides custom solutions to help brands ensure their ad placements are safe and brand-friendly.
Marketing Analytics
We provide in-depth analytics and insights to help brands make data-driven decisions to improve their marketing strategies.
Get in Touch
Connect with us to discuss how you can join our pilot programme and contribute to a cleaner internet.
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As a pilot partner your log level data will be securely analysed and a free audit report will be provided outlining how you can increase the effectiveness of your brand safety strategies.
Making a Cleaner Internet
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Mechanics
TrustList uses daily log-level analysis of display impressions using Large Language Models, coupled with ongoing daily sampling and analysis of over-performing or trending online content by our human analysts.
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The consolidated watchlists, structured as a red-list (with recommendations to deny ad placement) and a grey-list (with recommendations to ask for confirmation of anti-disinfo compliance), are offered to advertisers/media-buyers as both an API and/or plug-in widget that integrates directly with SSP (supply side platforms) and other programmatic ad management systems.
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Processs
TrustList ingests the minimum level possible of advertising impression data from partners. Our focus is on identifying the end-URL where an advert was shown.
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We use that as the entry point to programmatically analyse the entity against an objective list of criteria that includes:
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Historical Traffic
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Technology Used
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Advertising load
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Content hygiene
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Content context
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Feedback Loops
The system is self-reinforcing, as an industry framework for transparent ratings of member media.
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This includes system checklists and collection tools for surveying and managing media members.
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The assessments are underpinned by training and technical resources to help media become compliant.
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We have already received positive feedback from four of the largest brands in South Africa, from banking to entertainment.
ABOUT US
Trustworthy Experts
TrustList was founded by a team of experts in the digital media industry, lead by Code for Africa (CfA). Our mission is to provide a trusted platform for brands to advertise their products and services without funding disinformation or misinformation websites. Our team has years of experience in digital advertising, brand safety, and data analytics.
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CfA is the continent’s largest indigenous non-profit civic technology and digital innovation initiative, with 110+ full-time staff in 22 African countries. Established in 2012, CfA’s labs support front-line human rights defenders, by leveraging digital democracy and open data technologies to give citizens actionable information. We also build digital tools that help amplify citizen voices to make society more responsive and accountable.This includes infrastructure like the continent’s largest open data portals at openAFRICA and sourceAFRICA. CfA incubates initiatives as diverse as the africanDRONE network, the PesaCheck fact-checking initiative, the sensors.AFRICA air quality sensor network and the research and analysis programme CivicSignal.
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MISSION
Partners & Donors
PARTNERS and DONORS
