Illustration by Erik Carter
Thousands of families have witnessed fake obituaries of loved ones crowd Google search results. As The Verge reported in February, the obituaries — which often appear to be AI-generated — target everyday people, not just celebrities, and are written to extract clicks and subsequent ad revenue from readers.
A new report by watchdog organization Check My Ads traced some of the middlemen profiting from obituary spam: ad exchanges, or the companies that connect brands that want to run ads and websites on which ads will appear.
One of the sites the Check My Ads report focused on is HausaNew.com.ng, a content mill that, until recently, was churning out obituaries and news about local deaths in towns across the US. The site published an…
Illustration by Erik Carter
Thousands of families have witnessed fake obituaries of loved ones crowd Google search results. As The Verge reported in February, the obituaries — which often appear to be AI-generated — target everyday people, not just celebrities, and are written to extract clicks and subsequent ad revenue from readers.
A new report by watchdog organization Check My Ads traced some of the middlemen profiting from obituary spam: ad exchanges, or the companies that connect brands that want to run ads and websites on which ads will appear.
One of the sites the Check My Ads report focused on is HausaNew.com.ng, a content mill that, until recently, was churning out obituaries and news about local deaths in towns across the US. The site published an…
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