GumGum Says It Cut Ties With Discover-Tech's Family a Decade Ago. Discover-Tech Was Founded in 2020.

By Pesach Lattin, based on ADOTAT reporting

GumGum says it ended its one partnership in the Discover-Tech family nearly a decade ago, but Discover-Tech was founded in 2020 and took over the Google ID and domains of MyDSP, whose code still listed GumGum among 13 connections. Citizen Lab says Discover-Tech ads delivered Candiru spyware to at least 45 Al Jazeera devices, and BIS told ADOTAT a front for a listed company may be a violation while declining to say whether Integrity Labs is covered.

Why it matters

Ad tech companies change names, owners and domains while keeping the same platform IDs and integrations, so a partner list can look clean while the underlying connection stays in place. When one of those platforms is tied to spyware delivery and to a company on a government restricted list, every exchange, SSP and buyer connected to it has a reason to know who it is really dealing with. The tools here are know-your-partner checks against platform IDs rather than brand names, sanctions and restricted-party screening, and contract terms that require disclosure of ownership changes.

Questions to ask before you sign

1. Do you screen demand partners by platform ID and ownership, not only by company name?
2. When a partner rebrands or changes owners, how quickly are you told and who reviews it?
3. Do you check partners and their owners against government restricted-party lists?
4. Can you show every DSP that bought on our inventory, including predecessor names?
5. What is your process for cutting off a partner tied to malware or spyware delivery?

Read the ADOTAT investigation

Source: GumGum Says It Left Discover-Tech's Family Tree a Decade Ago. It Didn't Say Which Branch., ADOTAT

More compliance notes

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• OpenAI and Meta Call AI Rewrites Enhancement. Their New Terms Make You Liable for Ads You Never Read.
• Cox Pitched Reserved Ads Inside Bulldogs Games. Georgia's Rights Holder Says It Authorized No One.