Meta and Google continue to host ads promoting questionable health products across Europe. Reset Tech investigation uncovered a long-running campaign that uses fake endorsements from actual doctors to sell unverified supplements. These ads deceive users with false claims, images of real doctors, and fabricated websites. While they violate platform policies, Meta and Google remove the ads but often allow the accounts behind them to remain active. This session unpacks the investigation’s findings, showing how these platforms’ actions are insufficient to stop the misleading campaigns and why stronger rules and accountability are needed.
Watch the replay of the session here:
Speaker:
Aleksandra Atanasova, OSINT Investigations Lead, Reset Tech
Aleksandra is Reset Tech’s lead open-source intelligence (OSINT) researcher. She has conducted major investigations on foreign influence operations. Her research interests are focused on foreign state sponsored campaigns, advertising malpractices and the shifting tactics of online threat actors. Prior to joining Reset Tech, Aleksandra worked as a marketing consultant and data analyst for private companies and EU institutions.
Moderator:
Ana Romero-Vicente, Researcher, EU DisinfoLab
Ana Romero-Vicente works as a researcher at EU DisinfoLab, where she analyses and counters disinformation from different angles. She is apprised of the Spanish disinformation landscape and has published several international investigations on the monetisation of disinformation. She currently addresses mis/disinformation about climate change and monitors audio-visual social networks such as YouTube and TikTok. With a master’s degree in Journalism, Ana’s professional profile has always been very versatile. She has worked as a financial journalist, has been involved in EU Election Observation Missions and worked as a communication expert for EU-funded projects during her stay of 14 years in Brussels.
The opinions expressed are those of the speakers/authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of EU DisinfoLab. This webinar does not represent an endorsement by EU DisinfoLab of any organisation.