Currently, too little is being done to curb fraudulent advertising. More precise information and data are also needed to develop effective countermeasures. While platform users report a lot of content, they rarely report advertisements. When fraud victims fall for a scam through an advertisement, it is often too late for any documentation. Screenshots and account information are missing when consumers file complaints or report fraud – at best, they can reconstruct which platform they encountered the advertisement on.

In the AdGuardians project, a technical foundation is being developed to detect fraudulent advertising, report fraud, and take countermeasures based on analysis. The Digital Services Act (DSA) has been in effect since February 17, 2024. For the first time, it provides an Europe-wide legal framework to address illegal content online. The law requires major platforms and search engines (VLOP & VLOSE) to take action against unlawful material. It also requires them to provide tools to assist in the investigation of such content. One example of this is the public provision of ad library APIs.

With the help of these APIs, open-source crawlers will be developed as part of a monitoring system, which will enable innovative cross-platform comparative analyses of the extent, target groups, and perpetrator strategies. This creates an infrastructure that allows Trusted Flaggers to systematically investigate how fraud victims were lured into scams. Based on evidence, platforms can be pressured to take action.

The results of the analyses will be published on an information portal primarily aimed at stakeholders, particularly the DSA supervisory authority (KommAustria) and Trusted Flaggers (e.g., ÖIAT, Vienna Chamber of Labor, Rat auf Draht), who are recognized as trustworthy informants under the DSA. However, the findings will also be published through the ÖIAT initiative Watchlist Internet to reach platform users and warn them about fraudulent offers.