The precautionary decision of Minister Vital do Rego took place in July and responds to a representation made by the Federal Public Ministry before the TCU in May. On the occasion, the deputy attorney general of the Federal Audit Court, Lucas Furtado, requested that the agency investigate the Federal Government's advertising expenses, especially with the PEC campaign for pension reform, broadcast in 2019.
The document listed alleged signs of irregularities in the placement of the pieces. The TCU request mentioned government announcements on pages that publicize the results of the “jogo do bicho”, “fake news and misinformation websites” and “politically aligned media.”
On June 3, a report produced by the Fake News CPI pointed out that the Federal Government would have invested public money to air approximately two million advertisements in channels that have the above mentioned characteristics.
On the same day, the head of Secom, Fábio Wajngarten, and the advertising secretary, Glen Valente, called a press conference to talk about the subject. The government's explanation is that the agency contracted to produce the advertising pieces would have used programmatic media, through Google's AdSense platform, to distribute the placement in the digital environment.
At the time, Google took a stand on the issue in an official note. In the text, the company says it has policies against misleading content on its platforms and works to highlight content from trusted sources.
The company also mentioned that it understands that advertisers may not want their ads to be linked to certain content, even when they do not violate Google policies and, therefore, offers controls that allow the blocking of specific subject categories and websites when advertising. campaigns.
In recent weeks, the use of programmatic media, via Google or other platforms, has generated debates and reflections. Mainly, after the Sleeping Giants Brasil profile, on Twitter, publicly charge a positioning of the brands that automatically advertise on sites that promote hate speech or fake news.
Source: GMB / Meio
