Bridging the Brand Safety Gap: A Call for Collaboration and Regulation – Part 2

Mature markets like the US, UK, EU, and Australia lead in ad verification and fraud prevention, leveraging strict privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA to enhance brand safety. While India’s digital advertising landscape is evolving, fragmented regulations and enforcement gaps leave advertisers vulnerable to fraud and unsafe placements.

With regulatory bodies intensifying scrutiny on digital platforms, industry experts stress the need for stronger ad verification measures. Aligning with global best practices—through transparency mandates, AI-driven fraud detection, and stricter enforcement—can help build a safer, more accountable advertising ecosystem. However, achieving this requires collaboration among advertisers, ad tech firms, and verification companies to establish industry-wide standards and invest in smarter ad tech solutions.

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Global best practices

Dhiraj Gupta, CTO & Co-Founder of mFilterIt, emphasizes the growing demand for stricter ad verification in India as regulators increase scrutiny. He proposes aligning with global best practices by implementing robust verification mechanisms, transparency frameworks, and industry-wide whitelists/ blacklists. He suggests a strategy similar to successful campaigns against illegal animal trade, combining enforcement with measures to discourage unsafe advertising environments.

There should absolutely be global guidelines and best practices that should be followed, says Sumon K Chakrabarti, Co-founder and CEO, Buffalo Soldiers. It sets a standard. While global brands invest in tools like IAS (Integral Ad Science), DoubleVerify, and MOAT, many Indian advertisers rely on basic whitelisting, leaving gaps in brand safety, he adds.

With regulatory authorities closely monitoring digital platforms, there is a growing debate on whether India should implement stricter advertising regulations, akin to those in mature economies, says Sajal Gupta,  Chief Executive, Kiaos Marketing Pvt Ltd. While self-regulation remains essential, stronger guidelines on ad safety and fraud prevention could provide additional protection for brands and consumers alike. According to him, a collaborative approach is key.

Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions, notes that stricter ad verification guidelines are essential as India's digital advertising market grows.

“Adopting global best practices, such as requiring transparency in ad placement, real-time monitoring, and robust data verification, will enhance accountability. These guidelines can ensure that digital platforms maintain higher standards, reducing the risks of ads appearing on harmful or inappropriate sites. Additionally, imposing regulations that mandate clear disclosure of ad targeting methods and real-time tracking can help build consumer trust. By doing so, India can protect brands, consumers, and the integrity of the digital ecosystem while aligning with international standards,” says Hamidani.

Indian brands face a growing risk of ad fraud and unsafe placements, making robust verification essential, opines Amit Duggal, Founder, Monkeyminds. He also feels that in order to safeguard campaigns, advertisers must adopt third-party tools like Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify, leverage AI for real-time fraud detection, and enforce strict pre-bid filters using Ads.txt.

“Regular audits and transparent DSP partnerships are crucial. Given the high volume of digital ads and weak enforcement—where 85% of ASCI’s 2023–24 complaints were digital—India urgently needs stricter ad verification guidelines and stronger enforcement,” says Duggal.

The Indian ad market is evolving fast, and while regulations exist, they haven't caught up to the pace of digital, points out Ambika Sharma, Founder and Chief Strategist, Pulp Strategy. “Global best practices—like ad transparency mandates and platform accountability—should be adapted here. Brands deserve better visibility into where their ads are running, and platforms should be required to disclose more about their inventory. At the same time, regulations shouldn’t become so rigid that they stifle innovation. Striking that balance will be key,” she adds.

Collaboration

It is equally important that advertisers, ad tech firms, and verification companies collaborate for better ad transparency. AI can play a decisive role, as an ally and enabler, in mitigating ad fraud issues and addressing the issue of brand safety.

Sajal Gupta believes that ad tech firms, verification companies, and advertisers must work together to establish industry-wide safety standards, enhance tracking mechanisms, and leverage AI-driven fraud detection. He is of the opinion that AI can play a pivotal role in identifying fake traffic, blocking unsafe websites, and ensuring ads are placed in appropriate environments. To sustain the growth of India’s digital ad market, brands must prioritize safety, transparency, and technological innovation. Progress should never come at the expense of trust, Gupta concludes.

Sumon K Chakrabarti feels that Indian advertisers, ad tech firms, and verification companies should establish a joint industry body—similar to the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM)—to set clear brand safety benchmarks. Indian DSPs and SSPs must provide advertisers with real-time insights into ad placements, while log-level data sharing is crucial for transparency.

“At leAD, our programmatic ads platform at Buffalo Soldiers, we already offer granular data access, enabling advertisers to track impressions, site placements, and engagement patterns to identify fraudulent or unsafe placements. This proactive approach ensures continuous self-regulation. Can AI help? Absolutely. AI can analyze traffic patterns, detect bot activity, prevent click fraud, and scan content before serving ads using NLP models. However, achieving this requires investment. Brand safety should be an integral part of your marketing strategy – not just an afterthought,” Chakrabarti explains.

Ambika Sharma notes that right now, too much of the responsibility falls on brands. Agencies, ad-tech platforms, and verification companies need to work together to build an ecosystem that prioritizes transparency and accountability. According to her, a few things that can help are:

• A standardized industry framework, where advertisers get full visibility into ad placements.
• AI-powered content analysis to assess whether a site aligns with a brand’s values before bidding happens.
• Automated domain exclusion lists that update dynamically to keep bad actors out of ad inventories.

She believes that AI can help fix this mess, only if we use it the right way.

AI can flag unsafe placements in real-time, detect fraudulent traffic, and even analyse content sentiment to predict whether a site is brand-safe. The key is to use AI as a proactive tool, not just a post-campaign clean-up crew.

“At the end of the day, brands can’t afford to be passive about where their ads show up. Every media dollar spent should not just be about reach but about the right reach, in the right environment. Brands also need to be cautious; they need to review the list of sits, the categories etc., to minimise the potential for a distress placement and the industry needs to step up, invest in smarter ad tech, and take responsibility—because in a world where reputation is everything, brand safety isn’t optional,” she concludes.

Yasin Hamidani also feels that Indian ad tech firms, verification companies, and advertisers should collaborate by developing shared frameworks for ad verification, establishing industry standards for brand safety, and creating transparent reporting mechanisms.

“By working together, they can pool resources to identify and blacklist unsafe websites and ensure ads appear on reputable platforms. AI can play a pivotal role in mitigating ad fraud by using machine learning algorithms to detect patterns of fraudulent activity and prevent misplacements. Real-time AI-driven tools can flag inappropriate content, ensure ads are shown to the right audiences, and automate monitoring, enhancing overall brand safety and accountability,” Hamidani adds.

Dhiraj Gupta says that ensuring transparency and accountability in digital advertising requires collaboration between ad tech firms, verification companies, and advertisers. According to him, advertisers must shift from ‘trust’-based campaigns to actively monitoring and verifying placements. “The reliance on keyword-based exclusions needs reassessment, as advertisers often assume these measures are fully enforced—when in reality, they are not. Even exhaustive exclusion lists are ineffective without full commitment from platforms and publishers. Traditional brand safety vendors also fall short, often labeling content as 100% safe despite real risks. True brand safety demands more dynamic, in-depth verification beyond surface-level exclusions.”

To strengthen brand safety, Amit Duggal says that the industry must enforce annual certifications for recurring campaigns, adopt GDPR-style data privacy measures, and expand AI-driven audits while penalizing platforms hosting fraudulent ads.

Collaboration is key:

• Ad tech firms should integrate blockchain for transparent, tamper-proof transaction logs.
• Verification companies must deploy AI to detect deepfakes, bot traffic, and forced redirects.
• Advertisers need hybrid human-AI moderation to review content and blacklist unsafe publishers.

“AI plays a crucial role in predictive analytics to flag high-risk inventory, NLP to scan ad placements for harmful content, and behavioural analysis to differentiate bots from real users. Brand safety requires proactive investment, not reactive fixes,” says Duggal.