finnCap Tech Chat | Can you tell if they fake it

In 2017, the US Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the net neutrality rules it had approved in 2015, and as with most public agencies, it consulted the public to help guide its decision. The ease of commenting online led to the FCC receiving a vast 22 million comments to guide the Commissioners voting to repeal the contentious rules by 3 votes to 2… or did it? The New York State Attorney General revealed last week that a staggering 18 million of the comments were fake, on both sides of the debate.

The influence of fake accounts is unfortunately not limited to isolated events. Of only the large tech platforms, Facebook reported in March that in October-December 2020, it removed 1.3bn fake accounts, compared to a global Q4 20 user base of 3.3bn across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Which? reported in March that a relatively limited investigation had found 10 websites selling user reviews on Amazon from £5 in payment or free products. The potential to influence what consumers think and buy has attracted a wide range of parties to a lucrative fake industry, and in response platforms and tech companies are innovating to combat the threat that they pose to the integrity and effectiveness of their websites and platforms (Facebook generated $8.35 of its $8.62 of Q4 20 revenue per user from advertisers, who don’t want to be advertising to fake users).

At the ethically and functionally much more attractive end of the spectrum, companies and platforms are investing in technology that can effectively connect their consumers to the most relevant products, without relying on a user review to promote them. Attraqt’s technologies are an excellent example of how websites can help consumers find the right product, improve the customer experience, and drive revenue. Its range of solutions can recommend alternative products based on what the customer is looking at, through AI-driven analysis of all of the data that the client has captured from its previous experience of consumers, and the characteristics of products available, through to Attraqt’s recently expanded search capabilities with the October 2020 acquisition of Aleph. The complementary enhancements that AI Search offers have already been resonating with clients, with Attraqt highlighting in April that one of its largest clients, JD Sports, has now signed up, and combined with the CEO’s experience of platforms that can greatly expand Attraqt’s client base, we expect that momentum is only going to build as Attraqt evolves. In the same way, dotdigital enables the tailored communications that are directed to the recipients’ specific tastes instead of generic mailouts, and has extended its success and specialisation from email to multi-channel distribution to generate better returns for the e-marketeer.

New media are also opening up to advertisers, as streaming is changing how consumers access content. In 2020, the impacts of COVID-19 accelerated adoption of connected TV and digital video, and boosted the migration of over $130bn of global linear TV advertising to $8bn of online TV advertising. Tremor’s integrated platform has excellently capitalised upon this growth, with Q1 2021 group revenue expected to grow organically by 70-90% YoY. Similarly, Audioboom has been capitalising on the increased adoption of podcasts, by demonstrating a remarkably strong +49% growth in Q1 revenue, a stable cost base, and climbing up to be the fourth biggest podcast publisher in the US. Amazon acquired the number 6, Wondery, for over $300m in early 2021.

As the internet changes how companies can effectively reach relevant consumers, and moves away from the influence of fakes, it’s likely that the complexity and plausibility of fakes will continue to evolve. The days of being able to trust text on the internet are far behind us, and now trusting a picture or video is challenged by the widespread availability of deepfake technology. As fakes continue to hold at least some influence, they’re likely continue to shape our history: the FCC did repeal net neutrality rules, social media has likely swung numerous elections where we will probably never know the role of fakes (107,000 votes in 3 swing states elected Trump in 2016), and if we did land on the moon, why did Nixon say this in 1969? … Or did he?