Online ads

Intelligence

“Crying girls will make you rich”: How marketers trick users with mass-produced "organic" content

Feb 10, 2026

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24 min read

“Crying girls will make you rich”: How marketers trick users with mass-produced "organic" content

Indicator analyzed UGC campaigns that generated over 2 billion TikTok views and found rampant violations of disclosure rules.

Craig Silverman

Reporting

Thousands of undisclosed ads flooded TikTok to sell AI study apps

Nov 20, 2025

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15 min read

Thousands of undisclosed ads flooded TikTok to sell AI study apps

Maryland-based Mindgrasp used an army of student creators (and actors) to promote its study tools, without disclosing that they were paid.

Craig Silverman

Reporting

Scam ads are flooding social media. These former Meta staffers have a plan

Nov 6, 2025

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10 min read

Scam ads are flooding social media. These former Meta staffers have a plan

Rob Leathern and Rob Goldman, who both worked at Meta, are launching a new nonprofit that aims to add transparency to an increasingly opaque, scam-filled social media ecosystem.

Craig Silverman

Resources

The Indicator Guide to investigating digital ad libraries

Oct 14, 2025

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49 min read

The Indicator Guide to investigating digital ad libraries

Ad repositories can help with backgrounding people and companies, and with investigating influence and disinformation campaigns

Craig Silverman

Reporting

Explicit ads for nudifiers and AI girlfriend apps continue to plague Meta

Sep 30, 2025

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3 min read

Explicit ads for nudifiers and AI girlfriend apps continue to plague Meta

Indicator found thousands of ads that featured bare breasts and simulated sex acts

Craig Silverman

Reporting

Meta ran 4,000 more ads for AI nudifiers. That may not be the worst part.

Sep 10, 2025

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2 min read

Meta ran 4,000 more ads for AI nudifiers. That may not be the worst part.

The company is making it easy for the advertisers to conceal their identity

Alexios Mantzarlis, +1

Aid workers looking for jobs on LinkedIn face spammy websites, scammy recruiters, and sham listings

Sep 4, 2025

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2 min read

Aid workers looking for jobs on LinkedIn face spammy websites, scammy recruiters, and sham listings

LinkedIn deleted 27 pages with almost 6 million followers

Alexios Mantzarlis

Reporting

“Dress up your buddy’s wife in a tiny latex dress”: A digital fashion startup ran Meta ads for an AI app with an “undress” option

Sep 2, 2025

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2 min read

“Dress up your buddy’s wife in a tiny latex dress”: A digital fashion startup ran Meta ads for an AI app with an “undress” option

DressX, which has raised $15 million in financing, said the ads were placed by a contractor. Meta banned the ad accounts after being contacted by Indicator

Craig Silverman

Reporting

How a researcher provided a critical piece of evidence in a lawsuit against Meta

Jul 31, 2025

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2 min read

How a researcher provided a critical piece of evidence in a lawsuit against Meta

Inside a previously unreported investigative experiment that helped counter a key claim about Meta's ad system

Craig Silverman

Reporting

Hundreds of Meta ads with fake virus alerts tricked people into downloading suspicious apps

Jul 24, 2025

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2 min read

Hundreds of Meta ads with fake virus alerts tricked people into downloading suspicious apps

The ads falsely told people that their phone had been infected with viruses, was compromised by hackers, or that their Facebook account would be permanently disabled.

Craig Silverman

OSINT

Jul 9, 2025

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1 min read

5 new (to me) OSINT tools for researching YouTube, Meta ads, and more

How to find out if a YouTube video is monetized, analyze election and social issues ads in new ways, and refine your Google queries

Craig Silverman

Reporting

How Israel uses Google Ads in its information offensive against Iran

Jun 24, 2025

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1 min read

How Israel uses Google Ads in its information offensive against Iran

Ads shown millions of times in five European countries promote Israel's justification for military intervention

Alexios Mantzarlis

Reporting

Meta ran thousands of pornbait ads for fraudulent networks that monetize with Google

May 21, 2025

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2 min read

Meta ran thousands of pornbait ads for fraudulent networks that monetize with Google

Nothing says "healthy online advertising ecosystem" like deceptive ads on one platform being used to drive traffic to deceptive ads on another platform

Alexios Mantzarlis

AI nudifiers

AI nudifier makes a mockery of Meta's moderation

Jan 15, 2025

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12 min read

AI nudifier makes a mockery of Meta's moderation

Crush AI ran 8,010 ads on Facebook & Instagram, Fact-checkers and crowds are not mutually exclusive, and AI slop tops Google image results for [does corn get digested]

Alexios Mantzarlis

Scams

YouTube takes down bogus billionaire bracelet ads

Dec 11, 2024

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21 min read

YouTube takes down bogus billionaire bracelet ads

Plus: Britons pour milk down the drain, and Romanian NGOs call for more data from platforms

Alexios Mantzarlis

OSINT

A guide to investigating digital ad libraries

May 31, 2024

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10 min read

A guide to investigating digital ad libraries

How to dig into ad libraries from Google, Meta and other platforms to track spending, narratives, campaigns and more

Craig Silverman

Piracy

Feb 1, 2023

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3 min read

Investigating Google's Ad Business

Here's a methodology for identifying piracy sites making money with Google ads

Craig Silverman

OSINT

Free tools for investigating digital ads

Dec 15, 2022

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3 min read

Free tools for investigating digital ads

Originally published Feb. 17, 2022

Craig Silverman