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Today: A new
An ad fraud operation called Hydra is skimming an estimated $130 million from advertisers, and Google and others are trying to stop it
- Protected Media, an Israeli-based network security firm, said that it has identified a new ad fraud scheme called Hydra that inflates mobile traffic within apps. Asaf Greiner, CEO of Protected Media, estimates that the scheme has already stolen $130 million in ad spend.
- Google and industry group the Trustworthy Accountability Group were notified about the scheme. Google says that it believes it was able to wipe out the fake traffic from its ad system.
- Experts said that Hydra is more sophisticated than past schemes. "Hydra is a really accurate name because the impressions are being sold through many networks and being diluted — there are a lot of heads to slay," said Rachel Nyswander Thomas, COO of TAG.
Read the full story here.
POWER PLAYERS: 23 top executives and product leaders inside Google who are shaping the future of the company
- Hugh Langley identified 23 people leading Google's business.
- With over 100,000 employees on payroll and another 120,000 temps and contractors, Google's org chart constantly changes as new priorities develop within the company.
- The list includes advertising boss Jerry Dischler, former advertising boss and now head of search Prabhakar Raghavan, and SVP of global marketing Lorraine Twohill.
Read the full story here.
Poshmark clothing resellers explain how they're using Instagram and TikTok to grow their businesses and help drive tens of thousands of dollars in sales
- Sydney Bradley spoke with two Poshmark sellers who make their living off of the reselling app and building followings on Instagram and TikTok.
- "It was ramping up my senior year of college, to the point where it was full-time income equal to what a lot of people would make at a quote-unquote normal job," reseller Jack Ermisch said.
- Another reseller, Kaitlin Kao, estimated that she has spend $6,000 on buying inventory that she sells on reselling sites, making about $30,000 in profit after fees.
Read the full story here.
More stories we're reading:
- A highly anticipated antitrust hearing featuring the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google will reportedly be postponed (Business Insider)
- TikTok creators explain how they're making tens of thousands of dollars by promoting apps in their videos (Business Insider)
- Investors are piling into an obscure property market as Amazon, Walmart, and more race to keep up with online grocery delivery (Business Insider)
- Verizon Media's revenue hit hard by coronavirus pandemic (Axios)
- 'Disgusted' Employees Rage Against Dish Network Pushing Them Back to Offices (The Daily Beast)
- 'There are significant grey areas': The biggest unanswered questions around Apple's upcoming privacy update (Digiday)
Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at ljohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.
— Lauren