Since Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, it’s become widely known that a significant portion of online users aren’t human but bots — according to Musk, up to 20%. However, what many entrepreneurs and marketers might not realize is that this also applies to ad views. If you’ve ever run an ad that underperformed, it might not have been your creative fault but rather the fact that up to 25% of online ad views come from bots.

Thankfully, Musk isn’t the only one trying to tackle these profit-draining robots. UAE-based company VeraViews is on a mission to eliminate fraudulent ad traffic once and for all, using AI and distributed ledger technology. Here’s their story.

Detecting Ad Fraud

Online bots pose a major risk in this day and age. Also known as spam traffic, they are capable of causing major economic damage, and fraudulent ad traffic is undoubtedly one of the biggest sources of this. Eliminating bot views from approved ad traffic has major implications on the profitability of advertising campaigns, but that’s easier said than done.

To achieve this, VeraViews employs a patented “proof of view” (or PoV) technology that uses four steps to verify ad impressions and increase transparency and accountability. In the first step, VeraViews checks if an ad viewer is part of a non-human blacklist due to a previous identification.

If this is not the case, PoV starts collecting statistical data on the user’s behavior and may challenge the viewer’s device in various ways. Based on these results, VeraViews’s proprietary AI determines whether the viewer is human or machine. In the final step, PoV stores all the acquired data on an immutable, distributed ledger which provides transparency to advertisers and publishers and also functions as a critical source for the first step in future verification.

“Our platform brings much-needed transparency, efficiency, and measurable ROI to an industry long held back by ad fraud,” says VeraViews CEO Mark Firth. “As digital advertising evolves, addressing fraud is no longer optional—it’s essential. VeraViews empowers entrepreneurs, small businesses, and publishers to scale confidently with AI-driven detection and blockchain-backed verification that ensure every ad view delivers real value.”

UAE at the forefront of tech

Since its launch in 2018, VeraViews technology has been made available on major ad platforms, including Brightcove Marketplace and Connatix. Earlier this year, the adtech firm also partnered with one of the UAE’s fastest growing AI startups AIREV, and has now also announced its integration with AIREV’s OnDemand platform to further streamline its ad fraud identification technology.

Specifically, thanks to the new integration smart AI agents will be used to analyze and block invalid traffic before it disrupts campaign performance, while new real-time insights into ad performance allow businesses to optimize campaigns on the fly.

Both companies are part of the UAE’s so-called NextGen initiative to attract cutting-edge startups “that are developing and deploying advanced technology to enhance some of our most important industries,” according to UAE Minister of State of Foreign Trade Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi.

Following VeraViews incorporation under the NextGen FDI program, Al Zeyoudi further commented that “Advertising is a crucial means for companies to build their business, expand their customer base and promote their products and services, and it is vital we are able to create an industry that is transparent and trustworthy, and an arena in which every dollar spent by our enterprises receives a dollar’s worth of value.”

“VeraViews’ distributed ledger technology based advertising platform has the potential to revolutionise the media sector here in the UAE – and, ultimately, across the world,” he concluded.

With VeraViews, AIREV, and other innovative leaders now residing in Dubai’s Media City, the gulf states’ version of Silicon Valley, the UAE is uniquely positioned to lead the next generation of tech and media companies and create a new global hub for innovation.