Proven Ad Industry Anti-Piracy Initiative Expands in Latin America

Trustworthy Accountability Group Teams with Alianza and White Bullet to Extend Project Brand Integrity into Latin America 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, April 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), an advertising industry organization that fights criminal activity in the digital advertising supply chain, has joined forces with Alianza, a leading anti-piracy alliance of content creators, and White Bullet Solutions to expand the successful Project Brand Integrity (PBI) initiative against ad-supported piracy into Latin America.

PBI was created in 2019 to protect brands from association with illegal stolen content by alerting advertisers or their agencies when their ads ran on pirate sites that infringe intellectual property (IP) across Europe. In 2022, following contact and engagement by TAG, the average advertiser reduced its monthly advertising spend on pirate websites by 89%, and 86% of contacted advertisers reduced their ad impressions on pirate sites in Europe. 

Through this expansion, PBI will help advertisers and their agencies in Latin America avoid brand risk and damage by association with illegal pirate websites:

• White Bullet will scan the top sites that infringe Alianza's member's IP in Latin American markets, identifying any ads from reputable brands appearing on such sites.
• When a brand has notable ad exposure on infringing sites, White Bullet will notify TAG and provide an evidence package, including screenshots and the advertising code.
• TAG will privately contact the advertiser and/or its advertising agency and alert them to the ad misplacements, so they can take remedial action.
• TAG and Alianza also will educate advertisers/agencies about effective anti-piracy tools to reduce or eliminate future risks, including those in TAG's Brand Safety Certified Program.

"No brand wants to be associated with illegal and unsafe content, and Project Brand Integrity helps provide an early warning system to alert responsible advertisers to such misplacements, so they can take appropriate action to protect their brands and their investments," said TAG's VP Global Engagement and Operations Nick Stringer. "We know this collaborative approach is effective and scalable, thanks to the proven track record of PBI in Europe. TAG is excited to expand PBI with our partners in Latin America, so we can take bold action to cut off the money to the criminals who profit from ad-supported piracy and continue to help advertisers increase their ad spend power."

"Brands are generally unaware when their advertising is placed on piracy websites and that they are funding illegal activity, so outreach via TAG's PBI is an effective way to raise awareness with agencies and brands helping them take steps to protect their digital ad supply chains," said Peter Szyszko, White Bullet's founder and CEO. "Expanding this programme to Latin America, with the expertise of Alianza, will benefit the local market in a positive way, supporting advertisers' demands for more transparency, better return on ad spend and increased brand safety, whilst stopping revenues flowing to criminals ."

"In our experience of the digital environment, generally brands are unaware that with certain digital ad impressions they are involuntarily financing illegal services in the region," said Jorge Bacaloni, President of Alianza. "As a consequence, it is highly important to create awareness about the contribution that brands are making and with coordinated action plans to define an enforcement strategy. There is no industry initiative like the PBI in LATAM, so we hope that this will be as successful as in Europe,"

About the Trustworthy Accountability Group

The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) is the global certification program designed to fight against criminal activity and protect brand safety in the digital advertising industry. TAG advances its mission of eliminating fraudulent traffic, facilitating the sharing of threat intelligence, promoting brand safety and enabling transparency by connecting industry leaders, analyzing threats, and sharing best practices worldwide. The 700+ member TAG community includes the world's largest and most influential brands, agencies, publishers, and ad tech providers. For more information on TAG, please visit tagtoday.net.

About Alianza

The Alliance Against Pay TV Piracy ("Alliance") is a group of content providers, Pay TV broadcasters and technology providers whose goal is to combat TV piracy throughout Latin America. The Alliance brings together most of the industry's major players and creates a framework for broader collaboration in the fight against Pay TV piracy.

About White Bullet

White Bullet is a technology company that demonetises harmful websites and apps by removing the advertising that funds them. White Bullet uses AI to detect online piracy services globally, scores them for piracy risk and tracks the advertising funding them. White Bullet provides piracy and advertising intelligence to IP owners, regulators, advertisers and adtech companies to help stop the ad funding of illegal platforms.

Media contact:
Andrew Weinstein
[email protected]
202-667-4967

SOURCE Trustworthy Accountability Group