OOH owners must be vigilant against the potential posting of Problematic Content
Publisher’s Note:
You may recall back in May of this year, OOH Today’s call to the OAAA and the OOH Industry for Industry-Wide Standards for DOOH content filtering and moderating techniques, specifically for effective review of advertisements to protect the industry—Moderation Guidelines Needed for OOH (Preventing Bad Actors).
The incident spurring OOH Today’s urging the OAAA for explicit definitions of content and more emphatically, standards for content review, involved hate speech making its way through the ‘filtering’ process of automated billboard buying service, Billboard4Me, a company controlled by Roland Outdoor, and those same offensive messages displayed by Detroit billboard owner, 5Star Outdoor —White Supremacists Infiltrate Automated DOOH.
We advocated at that time, that AI or programmatic filters alone are not adequate in preventing content that is offensive and inappropriate. Our recommendations then as they are now, were that within the process, before installation, all content must be reviewed for approval by real people in each operating organization who are benefiting from the submitted creative/messages. This includes agency/buying service, programmatic/automated service and OOH Owners. As an industry, we all are responsible.
We must exercise that responsibly judiciously and without exception.
We are happy to report the OAAA, in collaboration with their Digital Billboard Committee, has recently updated The Digital Billboard Safety Guidelines to enhance industry best practices. Andy McDonald, SVP of Government Affairs, OAAA, has authored a piece outlining the key amendments and the importance of human oversight in digital display content. You can read the full article below and view the updated guidelines here: Digital Billboard Security Guidelines.
We salute the OAAA, Andy McDonald and the committee for their quick response and responsible actions.
Human Oversight Is Essential for Digital Display Content
by Andy McDonald, SVP, Government Affairs, OAAA
The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) in collaboration with its Digital Billboard Committee has recently amended its Digital Billboard Security Guidelines to include a section entitled “Human Approval of Content for Digital Displays.” The Digital Billboard Security Guidelines remain the best practices to prevent hacking of digital billboards, but OAAA felt they were an appropriate treatise in which to emphasize the need for human review of digital content before posting. Such human review should be performed by as many people and departments within an out of home (OOH) company as possible, from sales and graphic design to IT and operations and all points in between.
The purpose of human oversight is to ensure the integrity and appropriateness of content on digital displays, OOH owners must be vigilant against the potential posting of Problematic Content, which is generally defined as material that is obscene, fraudulent, criminal, or hateful, as well as content that violates community standards or OAAA’s Code of Industry Principles. While Problematic Content can arise from owner-created material, the risk is significantly higher with programmatic or automated content, which may lack sufficient human oversight.
Despite advancements in software and artificial intelligence (AI) filters, these tools cannot fully replace human judgment. The subtle nuances and context required to accurately assess content appropriateness necessitate human review. Therefore, to mitigate risks and uphold content standards, it is recommended that all digital display content undergo human approval.
Given the rapid growth of digital content sources, OOH owners should implement a policy where every piece of content – whether sourced programmatically or created in-house – is reviewed by at least one person before being posted. This human oversight is crucial to prevent the display of Problematic Content and to maintain the quality and integrity of digital advertising.
[…] Digital Billboard Security Guidelines Are Here […]