News

WASHINGTON, DC – The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), an advertising industry initiative to fight criminal activity in the digital advertising supply chain, today launched the TAG Pirate Mobile App Tool, a new shared resource to help members prevent their advertising from appearing on mobile apps that distribute pirated content, like protected music, movies, TV shows, and games. At launch, the tool includes more than 8,000 apps that violate the intellectual property rights of content owners, and it will be updated with new pirate apps as they are identified and shared by TAG members and other supporting organizations.

“As user activity has shifted to the mobile world, so have the criminals who exploit it through mobile apps that distribute illegal pirated content and sell advertising against it,” said Mike Zaneis, CEO of TAG. “By sharing information about those illegal apps, TAG helps companies quickly identify and remove them from their supply chains, thus cutting off the flow of money to pirates and intellectual property thieves. As the sole Information Sharing and Analysis Organization for the digital advertising industry, TAG is uniquely positioned to serve in this important anti-piracy role.”

Mobile app piracy – or the placement of legitimate ads on illegitimate, infringing mobile apps – is a significant and growing problem in digital advertising. Once an app is made available on an app store, it can be downloaded broadly before it is removed due to copyright or trademark infringement. Such apps can continue to operate at scale even after removal from a store, and many generate revenue through advertisements.

TAG’s Pirate Mobile App Tool stems from the work of TAG’s Anti-Piracy Working Group, which has developed a set of best practices guidelines to help advertisers, agencies, and mobile ad tech intermediaries identify and filter out infringing mobile apps from their advertising inventory. Those guidelines also include the framework for companies to contribute to and use the TAG Pirate Mobile App Tool to identify and block infringing mobile apps.

TAG has been designated as the first and only Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (ISAO) for the digital advertising industry. As such, TAG serves as the industry’s lead information sharing organization around threats, incidents, and best practices, particularly those related to ad-related malware, ad-supported piracy, ad fraud, and associated threats. Other information-sharing resources available to members include TAG’s Malware Threat Sharing Hub, Data Center IP List, and network of certified compliance officers at member companies.

About the Trustworthy Accountability Group
The Trustworthy Accountability Group was created to foster transformational improvement at scale across the digital advertising ecosystem, focusing on four core areas: eliminating fraudulent traffic, combating malware, fighting ad-supported Internet piracy to promote brand integrity, and promoting brand safety through greater transparency. For more information on TAG, please visit tagtoday.net.