Extremism, Media & Tech One Year After January 6, Part II

In the second of two episodes on extremism, media and tech one year after the insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, we’re going to hear from two individuals who are working to deprive the racists and violent extremists who seek to radicalize Americans and attack our democracy. 

The Check My Ads Institute is an independent watchdog organization that seeks to reform the digital ad tech industry from inside. At its website, checkymads.org, it says "we're holding the surveillance ad tech industry accountable for abuses against advertisers and consumers, and spearheading the development of a transparent, efficient and privacy-focused digital advertising marketplace."

This week, Check My Ads launched a new campaign- Defund the Insurrectionists- that seeks to cut domestic extremists off from a key source of funding for their propaganda efforts. Check my ads wants to alert advertisers that are unwittingly funding the insurrectionists, and demand that ad tech companies that continue to send millions of dollars in ad revenues to extremist platforms, despite it being against their terms of service, cease their bad business practices.

To learn more about the new campaign, I caught up with Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, the team behind Check My Ads.