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Josh Jackson was shocked when he found out what term, if used in the music publication he co-founded, could automatically strip an article of ad revenue. It was the word “song.”

Josh Jackson was shocked when he found out what term, if used in the music publication he co-founded, could automatically strip an article of ad revenue. It was the word “song.” That was just one of more than 4,000 “negative keywords” a major advertiser looking to run ads on

But rather than take careful, intentional steps to avoid that outcome, brand safety tech companies have been hawking the equivalent of a nuclear bomb to kill a fly — and news outlets like Jezebel are losing essential revenue in the process. But over time, IAS and its competitor DoubleVerify have encouraged advertisers to avoid running their ads on content that could be even vaguely “controversial” or make people feel negative. These worries becomes particularly problematic when you consider that companies like IAS have convinced advertisers that they don’t just want to avoid obviously hateful words — but also anything that isn’t “positive.” Nevermind that their technology is completely incapable of determining what content is positive and negative.

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