The real crime? This could have been prevented.
But it wasn’t. Because too many ad tech companies have chosen scale over safety, opacity over transparency, and profit over basic human decency.
KYC: A Standard in Every Industry — Except Ad Tech
In banking, finance, and insurance, Know Your Customer (KYC) laws ensure that institutions vet every client before they ever move a cent. It’s not optional. It’s the law — because the consequences of moving money for criminals, terrorists, or fraudsters are catastrophic.
But in ad tech?
Billions of ad dollars flow through shadowy, unverified networks where no one knows — or bothers to check — who’s on the other end.
Websites can:
- Hide their ownership
- Allow anonymous content uploads
- Profit from ad revenue without ever being vetted
If a bank operated this way, it would be shut down overnight.
So why is this acceptable in an industry that moves over $600 billion annually?
At C Wire we feel accountable and search no excuses
We apply KYC-like standards to every part of the ad supply chain. Because accountability isn’t a feature — it’s a necessity.
- We know every seller of ads. No mystery domains or subdomains. No faceless intermediaries.
- We manually enable every domain and subdomain — nothing is automatic, and every site is verified.
- We audit websites and index every URL before serving a single ad. Context matters — and we ensure every placement is safe.
- We index, vet, and understand every page so that advertisers know exactly where their ads are running — down to the URL and Ad Unit level.
We don’t do this because it’s easy. We do it because it’s the right thing to do.
The Adalytics report proves that the problem isn’t technological complexity — it’s apathy.
The real issue: No one is accountable
Ad tech loves to play pass-the-blame. DSPs point at SSPs. SSPs point at verification vendors. Verification vendors shrug and say, “It’s not our fault.”
Enough.
It’s time for Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) to stop blindly buying inventory from SSPs that don’t vet their supply. But it’s not just about pausing bad inventory — it’s about retaliating against SSPs who funnel criminal content into the ecosystem.
Here’s what needs to happen:
- DSPs must vet every single page — not just domains — before serving ads.
- If an SSP is found selling criminal placements (like CSAM), DSPs must escalate immediately.
- Commercial relationships with SSPs should be paused or terminated until proper safeguards are in place.
- This isn’t a negotiation. The moment CSAM or similarly egregious content is detected, it should trigger the highest level of escalation.
If SSPs know that selling shady or criminal inventory means losing DSP partners — and revenue — they’ll actually start caring about what they’re selling.
Verification vendors: You had one job — And you failed
Let’s not let verification vendors off the hook.
Companies like DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS) — whose entire business model is built around ensuring ads don’t run next to unsafe content — labeled 100% of ads on CSAM-hosting sites as “brand safe.”
How does that even happen?
It’s beyond ironic — it’s a complete system failure.
But the solution isn’t just “better verification.”
The solution is full transparency at every level of the supply chain. Because if a verification vendor fails (and clearly, they do), the system needs backup mechanisms to catch the failures.
Every player is accountable — Not just verification companies
Ad tech loves to treat accountability like a hot potato. But in this ecosystem, every company is responsible for what it enables:
- SSPs need to vet their supply and be ready to face serious consequences if they don’t.
- DSPs need to implement high-stakes escalation protocols when SSPs fail.
- Agencies and advertisers need to have the possibility to access URL-level transparency — not just domain-level reporting.
- Verification vendors need to actually do the job they’re paid for — or face irrelevance.
It’s not complex — It’s just inconvenient
Let’s kill the myth that this is too complex to fix.
At C Wire, we’ve built a system that solves this exact problem:
- We vet every seller.
- We index every URL.
- We audit content before a single ad is served.
It works. It’s profitable. And it’s safe.
The problem is, most ad tech companies don’t want to do it — because it’s easier to chase scale than safety.
But here’s the hard truth: if your system allows a single dollar to fund CSAM, your entire operation is compromised. There is no “acceptable margin of error” here.
Time for radical accountability
The only reason CSAM is being funded through ad dollars is because the industry allows it.
It’s time to stop.
- DSPs: Start vetting inventory like you’re a bank. If an SSP fails you, cut them off — no excuses.
- SSPs: Clean up your supply chain. If you’re selling shady placements, you’re done.
- Advertisers: Demand URL-level transparency access — or you’re complicit.
- Agencies: Stop chasing cheap impressions at all costs. You know better.
- Verification vendors: You had one job. Start doing it.
And if that’s too hard for your current partners?
Find new ones.
Because this is the line. There’s no moral gray area when it comes to child exploitation.
You either stop it — or you’re helping fund it.
The choice is yours.
The Adalytics report exposing how major brands, government agencies, and even non-profits like SaveTheChildren.org unknowingly funded websites hosting Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) is not just another industry scandal — it’s a complete and utter failure of basic responsibility and accountability.
