Bots Account for Nearly a Quarter of Video Ad Views: Study

Advertisers beware: Millions of robots are imitating humans, watching and clicking online ads and inflating traffic numbers. A new study reveals that nearly a quarter of video advertising content was consumed not by people, but by bots. Cyberfraud experts at White Ops analyzed over 5 billion impressions from dozens of sites and companies, and found that fraud is widespread in just about every situation. And creepily enough, two-thirds of bots came from residential IP addresses — meaning they're likely working from infected home computers and browsers.

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For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

With advertisers losing money and people's computers being hijacked, the situation is dire, but there are things you can do. Keep your operating system and browser updated, for one thing, to avoid becoming part of a globe-spanning botnet. Advertisers and publishers need to learn to look closely at their traffic, watching for suspicious behavior or scammy sites sending lots of visitors. The report itself is available for download at White Ops's website, and is written to be fairly accessible — so head over and download it if you'd like to know more about how this type of fraud works and how to fight it.

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—Devin Coldewey