Overview 

This Equativ policy describes the digital advertising standards applicable to any advertising agency, demand-side platform, or advertiser using Equativ’s Services. The policy includes prohibited advertiser content with possible exceptions and customizations as well as prohibited creative attributes and creative behavior types.

Prohibited advertiser content

Prohibited advertiser domain categories

Equativ categorizes advertiser domains using a classification system different from the one proposed by the International Advertising Bureau (IAB). These categories apply to advertiser domains and, consequently, to the landing pages of creatives.

Advertiser domains in the following categories are prohibited, with corresponding IAB categories listed in brackets where applicable:

• Pornography and adult content:
  • Domains related to pornography, sexual services, nudity, or sex education (IAB25-3) 
• Counterfeiting and copyright infringement, illegal content: 
  • Domains with downloads/views without the authors’ permission: pirated music, films, software, manga, illegal streaming (IAB26-4) 
  • Peer to peer sites, especially torrent sharing websites Websites that sell counterfeit products, such as fake luxury products 
  • Illicit drugs 
• Terrorism, violence, hate, racism: 
  • Discriminating, offensive, profane, or aggressive content; hate content; tasteless content; graphic or explicit violence (IAB25-2, IAB25-4, IAB25-5) 
  • Content related to cults, sects; horoscopes that can be misleading for the user 
• Proxies, redirectors, URL reducers: 
  • Any sites intended for URL shortening, redirection funnels, or proxy-based browsing 
• Virus, spyware, malicious code: 
  • Spyware, malware, viruses, illegal hacking, or other materials that are intended to damage or render inoperable software or hardware (IAB26-3) 
  • Websites that open new browser tabs or redirect to other ones without intended user action 
• Firearms and ammunition: 
  • Weapons, weapon accessories, and ammunition (IAB26-1) 
• Unavailable sites:
  • Parked domains, unavailable sites, restricted access sites (login required), sites without content, or sole IP addresses
• Incentivized traffic:
  • Content promoting traffic generation, fraudulent traffic, incentivized clicks/downloads, or "get paid for surfing" schemes 
• Not definable, clickbait, misleading content: 
  • Content or material making misleading, deceptive, or unrealistic claims 
  • Clickbait articles, images that can mislead the user for unintended action 
  • Pay to surf, that is, websites asking for a phone number to offer paid subscription 

Prohibited creatives

Prohibited creative attributes

Demand partners mustn't serve ads with the following creative attributes:

• Expandable (automatic) 
• Pop (such as over, under, or upon exit) 
• Provocative or suggestive imagery 
• Shaky, flashing, flickering, extreme animation, smileys 
• Text only 
• Windows dialog or alert style 
• Adobe Flash

Equativ indicates that it blocks these creative attributes using the battr field in bid requests sent to demand partners.

Blocked creative behavior types

Demand partners must avoid serving creatives that exhibit the behavior types listed below or any similar malicious activity. Equativ’s creative quality scanner continuously monitors creatives, and buyers might be blocked in cases of repeated violations.

The following are examples of creative behavior types that might be blocked:

• Forceful redirect: an ad that tries to redirect the viewer to another website without interaction. 
• Phishing scam: ads that attempt to trick the viewer into giving personal information through a phishing scam. For example, a “You have won an Amazon gift card!” redirect. 
• Unsafe/malware landing page: when the landing page associated with an ad is deemed unsafe or malicious. 
• Misleading claims: ads that use misleading language or imagery to garner clicks or sell products and services of dubious quality. 
• Video (arbitrage): the abusive practice in which an unscrupulous entity buys display inventory and then attempts to resell it to a video exchange at a significant markup. 
• Fake ad server: when an ad serving domain that masquerades as a Platform, Ad Network, or DSP, serves malvertisements at high volumes. 
• Exploit kit: when an ad drops a payload that attempts to install malicious code on the device. 
• Cryptocurrency mining: an ad that mines cryptocurrency in the viewer's browser using JavaScript or Web Assembly. This can cause harm by putting a strain on the viewer's device. It can also slow down the viewer's experience on the website. 
• Ad stacking: a single ad must load in a single ad slot on a web page. Ad Stacking occurs when there are multiple ads stacked on top of each other. Even though only one ad is visible, the hidden ads behind it run normally as if they were visible, all without the publisher knowledge. 
• Cloaked: a technique used by bad actors to evade detection by displaying a different ad experience to ad quality scanners than to real viewers.