War profiteers: online ads and the machinery of propaganda for war
Examines how governments deploy war propaganda through online advertising and argues platforms bear responsibility under international human rights law to prevent monetizing it.
Executive summary
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This Access Now report examines the role of online advertising infrastructure -- spanning Meta, Google/YouTube, and X -- in the distribution of state-sponsored war propaganda. The source document could not be retrieved as readable text for this summary; the description below is grounded in the report's stated title and framing rather than its detailed evidence base.
The report reportedly examines how governments and state-linked actors use paid advertising on major platforms to disseminate propaganda tied to armed conflicts, and argues that the ad-serving companies that monetize this content bear responsibility under international human rights frameworks for the material they help distribute and profit from.
The report calls for greater platform accountability and stronger safeguards in ad-review and monetization systems to prevent state or state-aligned actors from using commercial advertising channels to promote war propaganda, situating this as an extension of Access Now's broader work on platform responsibility during conflict.
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