BRUSSELS — Digital giants Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, in collaboration with marketers and agencies through the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, have agreed to adopt a common set of definitions for hate speech and other harmful content and to collaboratively monitor industry efforts to improve digital safety, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) announced today.
The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) is a cross-industry initiative founded and led by the WFA and supported by other advertising trade bodies, including the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s).
The aim of the GARM initiative is to bring together advertisers, agencies, media companies, platforms and industry organizations to improve the safety of digital environments, with a view to creating the first global brand safety and sustainability framework for the advertising industry. Facebook, Twitter and Google/YouTube are among the platforms who have been members of the alliance since its launch in June 2019.
The changes announced today follow 15 months of intensive talks within GARM between major advertisers, agencies and key global platforms, with the first changes to be introduced this month, says the WFA’s press release.
Four key areas of action have been identified, with agreed individual timelines for each platform to implement across the different areas, which include:
- Adoption of GARM common definitions for harmful content: All platforms will now consistently enforce these standards as part of their advertising content standards and consistently enforce the common definitions.
- Development of GARM reporting standards on harmful content: Between September and November work will continue to develop a set of harmonized metrics and reporting formats, for approval and adoption in 2021.
- Commitment to have independent oversight on brand safety operations, integrations and reporting: The goal is to have all major platforms audited for brand safety or have a plan in place for audits using a third-party verification mechanism by year end.
- Commitment to develop and deploy tools to better manage advertising adjacency: Platforms that have not yet implemented an adjacency solution will have a roadmap by year end.
“We are delighted that GARM has made such significant progress in such a short period of time,” said Raja Rajamannar, WFA president and chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard, in the press release. “I know these discussions have not been easy but these solutions, when implemented, will offer more choice and control for advertisers and their agencies by supporting content that aligns with their values.”
“This uncommon collaboration, brought together by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, has aligned the industry on the brand safety floor and suitability framework, giving us all a unified language to move forward on the fight against hate online,” said Carolyn Everson, vice-president of global marketing solutions at Facebook.
Sarah Personette, vice-president of global client solutions at Twitter, said: “We continue to be committed to aligning on industry standards and frameworks that will help address harmful content and create a brand-safe environment for advertisers. We are proud of the progress we have made in partnership with GARM and the other members to implement changes we believe will help create a place for healthy public conversation.”
“Responsibility is our number one priority, and we are committed to working with the industry to build a more sustainable and healthy digital ecosystem for everyone,” said Debbie Weinstein, vice-president of global solutions at YouTube.
