Next time you browse for your favorite sports updates on the web, make sure to verify the URL. It might showcase a title such as ‘Red Sox Encouraged to Gamble by Opting for A $427 Million Marvel Over Alex Bregman,’ which to the unwary eye, seems pretty regular. However, on further scrutiny, you might stumble upon a fraudulent website. DoubleVerify, which provides software solutions that monitor online advertising and digital media statistics, recently undertook a study of more than 200 websites teeming with an eclectic blend of seemingly AI-crafted content and news piece excerpts sourced from authoritative media establishments.
According to the audit, the fraudulent websites frequently craft their domain names and devise their online presence to mirror those managed by renowned media corporations. The appearance of many of these sites is strikingly similar to authentic sports news platforms. A significant portion of this fraud is directed towards bots being the consumers rather than creators of content, thereby inflating the website’s pageviews and creating a facade of augmented human readership.
DoubleVerify has also noticed an uptick in the use of AI click farms as part of these schemes. These networks of websites are saturated with AI-generated content intended to attract authentic readership and siphon off advertising profits from legitimate sources. The company refers to this fraudulent entity as ‘Synthetic Echo,’ a network that tends to duplicate content from other websites, use AI to churn out fresh stories, or utilize a blend of both methodologies.
Widening the confusion for readers, some mainstream media websites have flirted with the idea of publishing AI-generated news content. A few websites leveraging this AI technology are already creating chaos in the real world. For instance, one SEO-driven content factory published an AI-compiled announcement about a Halloween parade in Dublin, Ireland, resulting in large crowds assembling in anticipation of a non-existent event.
Interestingly, DoubleVerify identified a site within the Synthetic Echo network that seemed to distinctly mimic a Fox news affiliate based out of Nigeria. There seems to be a trend among these fraudulent sites to perform well with programmatic ads – ads served through large-scale automation. Their operation seemingly targets sports news, one of the main content categories, as it’s viewed as a safer choice for brands compared to hard news.
DoubleVerify’s study postulates that the operators behind Synthetic Echo specifically chose sports owing to its reputation of being relatively brand-safe compared to hard-hitting news. Our monitoring revealed programmatic ads from several notable businesses on these websites. In an era where faith in media is dwindling and numerous news agencies are grappling with declining revenues, the emergence of such fraudulent content factories poses a substantial risk.
These operations not only pollute the information landscape with subpar and plagiarized content but also usurp the programmatic ad revenues of bona fide content creators. They further exacerbate the wavering trust in media and news outlets, complicating the already turbulent waters of the digital information sphere.