One-year assessment period concludes for “Follow the Money” MoU

The signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Online Advertising and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) gathered in Brussels on 24 June to mark the end of the initial one-year assessment period.

Under the MoU, more commonly referred to as “Follow the Money”, EACA committed to encourage its members to minimise the placement of advertising on websites and mobile applications that infringe copyright or that disseminate counterfeit goods on a commercial scale.

A recent monitoring exercise conducted by White Bullet shows that between the first and the second quarter of 2019 there has been a decrease in EU brand and ad companies engaging with intellectual property infringing websites (the full report will be available shortly). Particularly, the volume of sponsored content and display ads from major gambling brands has decreased on such websites. According to the results, the largest segment of ads on IP infringing websites (47%) comes from “other brands”, which encompass a whole range of different brands across different industries, which are not very recognisable to the average consumer and do not appear on any global advertising spent list.

From September onwards and pending the final recommendation of the European Commission, new signatories will be able to join the initiative.