Media Security Overview

Open Web Community Guidelines

This document outlines the measurable patterns and indicators that HUMAN considers Made-for-Advertising/Made-for-Arbitrage (“MFA”) risks.

HUMAN evaluates MFA using a range of measurable indicators, rather than relying on any single signal for a determination. Thresholds and detection methods evolve as traffic patterns and industry practices change. Our stance is to provide transparency to enable you to make the most informed decisions possible about the ad inventory you buy and sell. HUMAN considers the context in which traffic and page behaviors occur, including the nature, purpose, and user experience of the site, so that signals are interpreted appropriately across both desktop and mobile web environments.

As of August 2026, HUMAN flags domains or subdomains as MFA when a combination of the indicators below is present. The indicators and considerations below are not exhaustive of all the signals HUMAN uses in its MFA determination. For clarity, a single indicator does not automatically result in an MFA flag.

Indicators & Considerations

Made For Advertising/Arbitrage Classification

HUMAN flags domains or subdomains as MFA based on a combination of the following indicators and considerations — never on a single indicator alone.

High Paid Sourcing

A materially elevated share of the domain’s traffic is acquired through paid acquisition channels, such as paid search, display advertising, or other paid sources.

Publisher considerations:

  • Does the domain’s traffic sourcing materially over-index to paid search, display, or other paid acquisition channels?
  • Does the domain see a lack of sustained direct, organic, and relevant referral traffic?

High Social Sourcing

A materially elevated share of the domain’s traffic originates from social media platforms, including sources such as Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, and similar services.

Publisher considerations:

  • Does the domain’s traffic sourcing materially over-index to direct or paid social acquisition channels?
  • Where appropriate, could the domain further diversify toward sustained direct, organic, and relevant referral traffic?

Fast Ad Refresh

Ads refresh at a rate faster than expected for a quality user experience.

Publisher considerations:

  • Are ads refreshing at intervals at a rate of less than 30 seconds?

High Total Ads Per User Page Session

The average number of ad units observed per user session on the given page is materially elevated compared to observed averages seen across open web inventory by HUMAN.

Publisher considerations:

  • Is the total number of ad slots on pages and ad density abnormally high?

High Ad To Content Ratio

On average, ad slots consume a materially larger portion of the page relative to actual page content.

Publisher considerations:

  • Is the number and/or size of ad slots on pages disproportionate to the volume of user-visible content?
  • Do ads take up most of the screen when a page first loads, making it difficult for users to access the main content?

High Page Complexity

Pages exhibit one or more structural characteristics that indicate a high number of ad slots per page relative to page height that is materially larger than typically observed, often from unnecessarily extended page layouts.

Publisher considerations:

  • Does the domain’s page structure spread limited content across an extended page viewing experience?

Mass Produced Content Template (With One or More of the Above)

The pages on the domain or subdomain match a template associated with numerous other domains, heavily correlate to other indicators that appear in these guidelines, or feature mass-produced, repeated content.

For clarity, using a site template is not in and of itself associated with MFA. For example, many reputable news networks use the same template across hundreds of local stations. The templates related to this indicator are templates specifically associated with mass-produced, repeated content.

Publisher considerations:

  • Does the domain or publisher use the same or highly similar templates, layouts, and content structures across multiple domains to feature mass-produced, repeated content?

Overinflated Page Counts via Content Navigation Methods

Domains featuring navigation patterns that may result in artificially increased page views or repeated ad loading which circumvent traditional (30 second) ad refresh standards.

Publisher considerations:

  • Does the site design leverage excessive pagination, for example: slides, quizzes, or similar user experiences?
  • Does each subsequent user interaction related to this type of user experience, with excessive pagination, result in repeated, new ad slots loading?

Feedback

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