X ran ads on five accounts pushing lies and hate during UK riots
X placed major brands' ads beside disinformation accounts that amassed 260M views after Southport.
Executive summary
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The Center for Countering Digital Hate tracked five verified X accounts that spread false claims about the identity of the Southport attacker during the week following the July 2024 incident, using Newswhip analytics to measure views and engagement, and estimated advertising exposure by having test accounts scroll through over 1,000 posts to measure how often ads appeared, combined with published X ad-pricing data.
The five accounts collectively drew about 260 million views in that week, with only one of roughly 1,060 posts examined carrying a fact-check; the researchers estimated this generated close to £28,000 in daily ad revenue for X, projecting to over £10 million annualized, with ads from major brands including a pharmaceutical company and a medical association appearing alongside the content.
The report concludes that X's advertising model financially benefited from the spread of disinformation during a period of civil unrest, and calls for changes to ad placement safeguards and content moderation enforcement.
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