When it comes to managing advertising placements, arguments usually revolve around “brand safety” and related image aspects of advertising. And this is fair, as marketers must take care of their client or employer. However, in this article, we will consider the economic and ethical sides of this issue.

Ukrainian marketers have a huge argument right now to connect a blacklist of advertising placements and start forming their own whitelists; and this argument is the war. We all live in it, it has integrated into all spheres of life, and in this article, we will explore how to protect ourselves and our clients from even accidentally funneling money to Russian bloggers, and through them, to the budget of the terrorist country.

In this article, we, as digital experts from Ukraine, will highlight the current tactics of propagandists, suggest ways to counter them, and share our internal documentation.

Problem 1: Russian “bloggers” are still receiving money from monetization, and these funds end up in the budget of the terrorist country 

We hope this is not news to you, but let’s reiterate: Russians can still, in 2024, receive money from monetizing their content on global platforms. This open secret has been highlighted multiple times by Ukrainian publications, but despite the optimistic headlines of the first days of the invasion, such as “Russians can no longer earn money on YouTube – monetization disabled,” we have ended up at the point where “The National Innovation Office explained how the Russian budget earned from views of Russian YouTube by Ukrainians.” Let’s examine this using YouTube as an example, one of the largest advertising platforms that allows users to monetize content.

So, there are two restrictions that YouTube has imposed on residents of the country-404.

1. Closed the ability to register in Adsense (content monetization service). However, accounts registered before February 24 continue to exist and operate. Bloggers who were active before February 2022 continue to work unless they received a personal ban; new bloggers have to find workarounds: buying other people’s accounts with Adsense, registering through other countries, etc.
2. Closed the ability to monetize the Russian audience. That is, residents of the village of Bolshoe Bukhalovo (a real name) do not see ads when watching another “WATCH EVERYONE! THE BEST SERIES! THE HARD FATE OF THE STEPDAUGHTER OF THE BUSINESSMAN’S DAUGHTER!”, and they should not be a useful audience even for a channel that is not ashamed to upload such content.

These measures somewhat reduced the income of those whose main audience was Russians and made it a bit more difficult for new users to start monetizing. But old channels are still unobstructedly receiving monetization for views from other countries. And this brings us to the next problem.

Problem 2: Users Consume Propaganda (And It’s Not Always Voluntarily)

Imagine your mom or grandma, who subscribed to a tiny recipe channel a long time ago. For years, everything was fine; the channel posted variations on omelet once a month. Suddenly, it rebranded and started posting the cringiest propaganda daily, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. And now, your relative’s recommendation feed is filled with “ultra-popular” fresh content like in the screenshot below:

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. At newage., we manually sort potential ad placements and frequently note such radical changes often enough to call it a harmful trend.

The New Tactic

In 2024, Russians on YouTube target viewers not with the “quality” of their propaganda, but with its sheer quantity. Instead of promoting one viral video with millions of views in Ukraine, they launch hundreds of small channels, each collecting tens of thousands of views, spreading their narrative. The content machine is in full swing, with each of these chameleon channels uploading up to ten new videos a day, and even a single subscription is enough to create an echo chamber effect.

The most cynical part is that propagandists try to monetize their spreads. Old channels with active AdSense accounts that can receive money from ads viewed by Ukrainians become these “chameleons” unless YouTube blocks monetization for each individual blogger or video.

Solution: Marketers Must Restrict Placements

So, we have a situation where Russians not only receive money from content monetization but also from monetizing the most egregious propaganda viewed by Ukrainians, former subscribers of culinary, entertainment, and educational content.

As marketing professionals, we must continue educating our audience on digital hygiene principles. But right now, we must ensure that your money and your clients’ money do not go to the enemy.

We urge all colleagues to manage ad placements by using a whitelist to advertise on reputable channels with a good reputation. Or at the very least, apply a blacklist to exclude definitively Russian channels from ad displays. In the attachment below, you will find our blacklist—copy it and apply it in every campaign to ensure that your clients and your brand do not appear before and sponsor hysteria about the “front collapsing.”