
Why the United Nations is asking advertisers to protect the open web
About this episode
Last month, the United Nations in partnership with the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) launched an issue brief warning the integrity of the global information ecosystem is at a "crisis point".
As Charlotte Scaddan, senior advisor on information integrity at the UN, explained: "Without swift action and guardrails, AI risks accelerating the breakdown of information ecosystem integrity."
But advertisers, the UN believes, are uniquely situated to demand greater transparency and guardrails from AI companies as the likes of OpenAI turn to ad-supported business models to fund their exorbitant costs.
At our Future of Brands conference last month, Scaddan and CAN co-founder Harriet Kingaby joined host and senior reporter Jack Benjamin to unpack the report and make a direct appeal to advertisers to "make information integrity a condition of AI uptake."
Highlights:
1:35: Toplines from the Strengthening Information Integrity: Advertising, Artificial Intelligence and the Global Information Crisis issue brief
4:41: The power of advertisers in the global information ecosystem
7:14: Why advertisers should care about media quality
9:55: Concrete steps advertisers should take when working with tech platforms
Related articles:
UN and CAN warn of AI-driven global information integrity crisis
Social media platforms linked to human trafficking, UN report finds
UK to get ChatGPT ads imminently as OpenAI expands pilot to other territories
Takeaways from the Future of Brands 2026: AI, culture and measurement take centre stage
Meta admits revenue from fraud and scam ads ‘might’ have accounted for 3-4% of total revenue
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