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Trust and Safety

ExoClick’s Commitment to Trust and Safety

We are committed to ensuring a safe end user experience when seeing the ads that we serve on our global network of publisher websites. Here are the measures we currently have in place to prevent any possible issue.

ExoClick is a safe and clean ad network

ExoClick’s mission is to ensure that we provide a safe and clean ad network for our Publisher and Advertiser clients. This way we can ensure that end users can engage with the ads we serve safely, knowing that by clicking on an ad served by ExoClick that it is a safe and non-intrusive experience.

ExoClick’s Compliance Team – Keeping our network a safe and enjoyable ad experience

ExoClick’s Compliance Team’s role is to ensure that our ad network is clean and free of any form of malvertising and that ad creatives are fully compliant with the industry standards set by the Interactive Advertising Bureau or The Better Ads Coalition. ExoClick’s Compliance Team works every day of the year 24/7 and the team has several processes that they carry out.

The Compliance Team are our first line of defense to protect our Publisher clients so that they can be confident in knowing that the ads show on their sites are safe and that their end users are fully protected, so that they can enjoy a great user experience while browsing websites on our network and see ad creatives and formats that are fully industry compliant and non-intrusive. Let’s look into each process:

How ExoClick’s Compliance Team scrutinizes advertiser campaigns before they go live

1. ExoClick Advertiser campaign approval 

When an Advertiser sets up a campaign, the Advertiser also uploads the campaign’s ad creatives and landing page URL to our platform. This campaign does not automatically go live, the next stage is for our Compliance Team to then manually check the ad creatives, ad texts and landing page’s URL that are being used for the campaign to ensure that the Advertiser’s campaign is fully compliant with our strict Advertiser Guidelines. Any ad or landing page found to be in breach of our Guidelines is rejected, and therefore will not run on our network.

2. ExoClick does not accept misleading ads

The end user experience is important to us and on that basis we do not accept advertisements that mislead end users. Protecting end users, our publishers and our advertisers from bad actors is very important to us. We have strict policies that govern the kinds of ads we allow on our platform. These policies are explained in detail on our website in our Advertiser Guidelines, These Guidelines are a comprehensive list of what advertising campaigns are not accepted on our network. Our Guidelines are aligned with Google’s Abusive Experience Report and Better Ads Standards. Our 24/7 Compliance Team checks every ad to ensure that before an ad campaign is allowed to run on our network, the ad creatives are in accordance with our Guidelines.

3. Ads that infringe copyright

ExoClick respects the intellectual property rights of others and we expect that all of our clients do the same. Our Compliance Team also examines each ad creative and landing page creative to check if the images used are of protected brand logos, celebrities, well known cartoon characters or any other potentially protected visuals. Ad campaigns that are found to use copyrighted images in their marketing materials are rejected and will not be allowed to run on our network.

4. ExoClick’s instant removal of malvertising

Malvertising is a malicious form of advertising. It uses digital advertising to cause harm to internet users by, for example, trying to steal their personal data, or cause harm to these end users devices by injecting them with malicious code and viruses. Malvertising distribution via digital advertising is a continual battle for ad networks. Cybercriminals are highly tech savvy and try different ways to insert malicious hidden or obfuscated code within the ad supply chain.

ExoClick has zero tolerance for Malvertising of any form. Once detected, all of the advertiser’s campaigns are immediately blocked and taken off our network and lead to a complete ban of the advertiser. ExoClick also informs the publisher where the malvertising appeared and that it has been stopped.

5. ExoClick uses AdSecure to detect malvertising

ExoClick uses multiple AI detection tools including 3rd party software AdSecure. AdSecure detects malvertising through automated scanning techniques and manual analysis. Here is a general overview of their detection methods:

  • Automated Scanning: AdSecure uses automated algorithms and scanning techniques to analyze ad creatives in real-time. These algorithms look for known signatures and patterns associated with malvertising, such as malicious code, suspicious behavior, or unauthorized redirects.
  • Behavioral Analysis: AdSecure monitors the behavior of ad creatives to identify any anomalies or suspicious activities. This includes tracking things like unexpected redirects, attempts to download files, or interactions with malicious domains.
  • Code Analysis: AdSecure examines the underlying code of ad creatives to identify any malicious scripts or payloads. This involves analyzing JavaScript, HTML, and other code components to detect malware, phishing attempts, or other forms of malicious content.
  • URL and Domain Analysis: AdSecure checks the URLs and domains associated with ad creatives to ensure they are legitimate and not linked to known malicious entities. This involves comparing URLs against databases of known malicious domains and using heuristics to identify suspicious URLs.

AdSecure is used to scan ad campaigns on ExoClick’s network before campaigns go live and while they are running, to ensure bad actors have not inserted malicious code and redirects into an ad campaign after campaign approval.

6. How ExoClick’s Compliance Team checks for Malvertising

Prior to approval of a campaign to run on our network, all campaigns are subject to further scrutiny to check for malvertising. As previously mentioned, the Compliance Team uses a range of AI tools including AdSecure, to scan all campaign marketing materials and campaign urls. If any Malvertising is found the campaign is immediately rejected. The Compliance Team also regularly checks campaigns while they are running, to ensure the Advertiser has not inserted any malvertising code once the campaign is running. Again, if discovered the campaign is instantly removed. In some cases, we report discovered malvertising to the appropriate authorities.  

The Compliance Team are our first line of defense to protect our Publisher clients so that they can be confident in knowing that the ads show on their sites are safe and that their end users are fully protected, so that they can enjoy a great user experience while browsing websites on our network and see ad creatives and formats that are fully industry compliant and non-intrusive.

7. Advertising Campaigns that are approved

Only after our Compliance Team is satisfied that the ad campaign and marketing materials meet our high standards and have been vetted as clean, then the campaign is approved to run on our network. But our Compliance Team will carry out regular checks while the campaign is live to ensure that nothing has been changed within the ad flow by the advertiser. If the Compliance Team discovers anything suspicious, the campaign will be blocked on the network. Further action could be taken with the advertiser, this includes:

  • Informing them to re apply with the campaign do that it goes through the campaign approval procedure once again.
  • If Malvertising has been injected into the campaign, it will be removed from the network and the advertiser will be banned from our network.

How ExoClick’s Compliance Team scrutinizes Publisher websites before they go live

1. ExoClick Publisher website approval

We do not control or monitor the content of websites, as we do not exercise editorial control in any way. However, when a Publisher signs up to ExoClick to submit their website to join our network, our Compliance Team carries out checks before the Publisher website is approved and made available for our Advertiser clients. 

2. Full compliance with our Publisher Guidelines

To join ExoClick’s network, the Publisher website should be aligned with our strict Publisher Guidelines. As you can see in our Guidelines, website content that is not allowed on our network includes the following:

  • Websites that contain any sort of illegal content.
  • Websites that make it difficult to view the content.
  • Websites that infringe upon Intellectual Property, Copyright, Patent or Trademark laws.
  • Websites that promote illegal activities e.g. rape/incest/drug taking/hacking etc.
  • Websites that are under construction or lacking in content.
  • Websites that contain keywords/terms that we deem to be inappropriate?
  • Free/shared hosting domains such as Blogger.

3. No excessive advertising

Websites that show excessive advertising will be rejected. ExoClick’s Compliance Team examines a website to ensure that it is a good end user experience. That means that the website must have a good balance between quality content and advertising. A website that contains too many ads will have poor quality traffic sources, therefore will not be accepted on our network. Additionally, websites that use incentive ads are not permitted (PTC, PTR, etc…).

4. 18 U.S.C. 2257 compliance

Adult websites must be at all times compliant with 18 U.S.C. 2257. Websites must contain a valid 18 U.S.C. 2257 Compliance Statement/Policy to be accepted on our network.

5. No fraudulent traffic

ExoClick has zero tolerance for websites that have fraudulent traffic, any website found to use any tools that artificially generate impressions or clicks are not permitted. During this time we monitor the quality of the website’s traffic. If it is found to be substandard or fraudulent then we close the Publisher’s account without prior notice. This is important because our Advertiser clients are bidding for ad zones and expect a level of high quality and that their ads are being displayed to real end-users.

6. Further website checks

ExoClick’s Compliance Team also carries out regular checks on all websites on our network, therefore even when a Publisher website is approved, it is still monitored to ensure it is compliant with our Guidelines.

How we ensure our Publisher clients are Industry Compliant 

Ad Industry Standards: all our ads are aligned with the Interactive Advertising Bureau guidelines.

Data Protection: all our clients must agree with our Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement. This allows us to ensure compliance with GDPR. Also, ExoClick is an official vendor of the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework.

The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA): On Saturday 17 February 2024, the European Union’s Digital Services Act came into force for all Online Platforms. For Ad Networks, Mobile apps, Advertisers and Publishers, this relates specifically to Article 26 – Online advertising transparency. The purpose of this law is to facilitate EU end users to be able to identify the Advertiser behind every ad that is shown on a website or within an app. For this purpose, the information is extracted from data provided by the Advertiser to ExoClick.

ExoClick offers the possibility to enable the DSA feature to all its Publishers so their end users know more about the advertisement they are seeing. This involves the following items:

  • that the information displayed is an advertisement;
  • the natural or legal person on whose behalf the advertisement is displayed;
  • meaningful information about the main parameters used to determine the recipient to whom the advertisement is displayed.

ExoClick displays such information about the ad irrespective of where the Online Platforms or Advertisers are based geographically. Additionally we have a dedicated DSA page in the footer of our Corporate Website.

Other ExoClick Protections we have in place

Copyright infringement

Our Compliance Team carries out rigorous checks both on the content on our Publishers websites and the ad creatives of our Advertisers to check for any type of Copyright Infringement. If discovered, we contact the Publisher or Advertiser about the infringement and request they remove it from their website/ad creatives. Additionally Publishers, Advertisers and End Users can report any Copyright Infringement that they discover via our Copyright Report Form in the footer of our website.

Also, following the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), ExoClick has appointed a DMCA Designated Agent, in this case the ExoClick Compliance Team, who should be reached via the Copyright Report Form. We ask all our publishers to have a clear DMCA/Copyright policy on their website with a working contact form or contact email address where users can submit DMCA/Copyright challenges to them legally negating the need for ExoClick to be involved as a mediator.

Transparency Report

We feel it is important to provide information about our initiatives, technologies, moderation practices and how our platform responds to harmful content. In line with European Union laws, ExoClick provides a Transparency Report every six months.

Transparency reports cover network data for the following topics: 

Advertiser data

  • Number of campaigns and marketing asserts
  • Number of illegal ads rejected
  • Average time taken to remove illegal ads
  • Malvertising volumes detected
  • Malvertising detected by type
  • Malvertising SLA

Publisher data

  • Volume of sites approved
  • Volume of sites rejected
  • Number of copyright infringement cases
  • Number of CSAM cases

Content moderation data

  • Number of employees working in ExoClick’s Compliance Team
  • Description of Their role
  • Training Program
  • Automated tools that are used
  • Partnerships
  • State of employee wellbeing

Reports

Q1 & Q2 2024

Protecting Children from online harm

As an online company, ExoClick is committed to protecting Children from being exploited online. ExoClick is a member of two key organizations: The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and WeProtect Global Alliance. 

The IWF is an independent not-for-profit organization supported by the global internet industry and the European Commission. It works internationally to make the internet a safer place, by identifying and removing online child sexual abuse images and videos. Additionally the IWF offers the public a safe place to report suspected online child sexual abuse images and videos anonymously.

The IWF’s team of expert content analysts pro-actively search for child sexual abuse images and videos. Once discovered, the IWF compiles and maintains a list of URLs for individual webpages with child sexual abuse content called the IWF URL List. The list typically contains between 5,000 and 12,000 URLs every day with a daily ‘churn’ of content being added to the list and removed from the list as appropriate. Additionally, the IWF passes this information to the INHOPE network of hotlines across the world and works with the relevant police body in each country where the images and videos are discovered.

ExoClick’s membership involves help with funding the IWF as well as collaborating by using their URL list and their keywords list, which provides cryptic terms associated with child sexual abuse material. Additionally, ExoClick’s Compliance team will share any detections of URLs that feature child sexual abuse content for the IWF to review and alert relevant authorities.

WeProtect Global Alliance brings together governments, civil society, and the technology industry to tackle the growing threat of child sexual abuse online. ExoClick is one of over 200 global members who are committed to ending child sexual exploitation and abuse online. ExoClick has implemented the learnings in the Alliance’s frameworks, which provides guidance on understanding the issue of child sexual abuse online.

ExoClick believes that every child deserves to grow up in a safe digital environment, free from harm and exploitation. By working together with the WeProtect Global Alliance we can help develop effective solutions to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material online and bring perpetrators to justice.

Age Verification

ExoClick partners with online age verification platform AgeGO. It is used by websites that feature content or products that are only available to a +18 year old audience, in order to verify that a user’s age is +18.

How we take care of our employees wellbeing

ExoClick is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our employees. We have various measures in place to ensure that ExoClick employees are supported with a large range of benefits that ensure they can work in a safe environment.

Exposure to content: Certain teams are exposed to extreme content. Every quarter we send them a questionnaire asking several key questions for them to explain their feelings about viewing this kind of content. If they are negatively affected by viewing this content, we offer free professional counseling, so they can discuss issues in a safe environment.

Wellbeing of our employees: To help our employees deal with stress we offer free therapeutic massages, free membership to the Headspace meditation app, free Gym and Yoga classes, and private health insurance, which includes psychology sessions.

How to report Guideline infringements and website/ad campaign content issues to ExoClick

ExoClick has measures in place for organizations, companies, clients and end users to report anything suspicious to us, this includes:

  • Copyright infringement seen displayed on a Publishers website or used within Advertiser campaign marketing materials. A form is provided on our Copyright Infringement webpage.
  • Non-consensual content, Illegal content ads or Malvertising seen displayed on a Publishers website or used within Advertiser campaign marketing materials. A form is provided on our Contact webpage under the “Abuse of our guidelines” section of the contact form in the “Illegal Ads” option.
  • Hateful or violent content, shared personal info, or the promotion of regulated goods and services seen displayed on a Publishers website or used within Advertiser campaign marketing materials. A form is provided on our Contact webpage under the “Abuse of our guidelines” section by selecting the “Google Abusive Ads” option.
  • Malware, Malvertising and Suspicious Traffic seen on a Publishers website. A form is provided on our Contact webpage under the “Abuse of our guidelines” section by selecting the “Compliance Issues” option.