Digital advertising is a massive, largely unregulated industry worth about $700 billion (£530 billion), where brands often find themselves at the mercy of algorithm-driven placements without knowing where their ads will appear. As the co-founder of Check My Ads, an ad tech watchdog, I have seen firsthand how advertisers and consumers fall victim to deception, scams, and manipulation. We’ve intervened to remove ads from websites disseminating misinformation about topics like Covid-19, false election narratives, and even AI-generated obituaries.
Currently, when brands engage Google for ad placements, they receive views and clicks but lack transparency regarding the contexts in which their ads are displayed. This opacity can result in ads being shown on unsavory sites, as seen in 2024, where Google profited from placing product ads on websites promoting hardcore pornography, disinformation, and hate speech.
In 2025, however, there are plans for significant regulatory changes aimed at the digital advertising landscape. Lawmakers across the globe, from Brussels to Ottawa, Washington, and London, are working on regulations that will empower brands with the support they need to inquire about ad data, validate its integrity, and ensure they receive refunds for campaigns compromised by fraud or safety violations.
For instance, the Canadian Parliament is considering the Online Harms Act, which would make it illegal to profit from content featuring minors, reinforcing that if content is illegal, monetizing it should also be deemed illegal. Similarly, legislative proposals in California and New York aim to implement "know-your-customer" laws to trace financial flows in global advertising, which is crucial since these states are central players in the ad tech industry. California’s transparency laws could profoundly influence Google’s advertising operations, the biggest in the world.
Beyond brand safety, the unregulated nature of digital advertising poses a serious risk to democracy. In the U.S., the spending on presidential campaigns, projected to reach $2 billion (£1.5 billion) in 2024, remains largely unregulated, with significant gaps in transparency regarding refunds and ad rates.
As we move into 2025, the culmination of these legislative efforts may finally push big tech companies towards the required regulatory measures to restore integrity in the digital advertising ecosystem.
