Newsweek Media Group, formerly IBT Media, and publisher of Newsweek and the International Business Times, has been buying junk online traffic and engaging in ad fraud, according to a new report from BuzzFeed News, citing an investigation from anti ad fraud firm Social Puncher. The report says that the International Business Times used fraudulent traffic practices, including buying pop-up and pop-under traffic, to win a $2.8 million video ad campaign from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Newsweek Media Group admitted to BuzzFeed that it buys audiences from ad networks that sell pop-up and pop-under traffic, but said that was a small percentage of overall traffic. It also denied engaging in fraudulent activity. BuzzFeed reports that IBTimes.com started buying traffic in 2016. Before then, about half of the site’s visitors came from the U.S., but that increased to 80% during the time when the CFPB’s campaign ran. The investigation from Social Puncher found that IBTimes.com bought the traffic necessary to meet the requirements set by the CFPB’s ad campaign.
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