A lawyer for ad verification vendor DoubleVerify on Monday sent a letter to adtech watchdog Check My Ads, warning that the organization should prepare for litigation concerning alleged “defamatory statements” it made about DoubleVerify.
These statements were made after the research firm Adalytics published a report in March suggesting that ad verification vendors including DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science (IAS), and Human Security sometimes fail to detect bot traffic in online advertising, despite being enlisted by advertisers to prevent invalid and fraudulent traffic.
Adalytics had called out DoubleVerify in previous reports, too, including a February report claiming that ads from Fortune 500 brand appear on a site known to host child abuse content.
Check My Ads has promoted Adalytics’ reports and has collaborated with the organization in recent months to raise concerns about safety and transparency in the digital advertising ecosystem to U.S. lawmakers.
In its letter to Check My Ads this week, DoubleVerify’s legal representative, Brad Bondi of Paul Hastings LLP (and brother to U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi), claimed that Check My Ads statements about Adalytics’ bot detection report constitute “defamation, tortious interference, and injurious falsehood.”
Bondi asked the nonprofit organization to retain all historical communications records and documents “that in any way relate to DoubleVerify, the Article, Adalytics….” and any of Adalytics’ previous publications that reference DoubleVerify.
ADWEEK was unable to determine what specific statements DoubleVerify believes constitute defamation, tortious interference, or injurious falsehood. A Check My Ads representative referred ADWEEK to the organization’s official statement. DoubleVerify declined to comment.
Check My Ads’ public response to the letter on Wednesday afternoon (April 16) claimed Bondi’s letter made “vague accusations of defamation and other misconduct, yet demands sweeping preservation of internal and external communications, including our protected communications with government officials on matters of public concern.”