[2][3][4] Prior to Check My Ads, Nandini Jammi had co-founded and run the social media watchdog organization Sleeping Giants, which focused on pressuring companies to remove their advertising from far-right websites.

[3] Claire Atkin was a marketer who had become concerned about the role of online advertising in enabling disinformation, and its ultimate influence in elections.

[5] In January 2020 they published their first issue of Branded, a newsletter where they describe their research into advertising technology (adtech) and problems they identify.

[1] In October 2021, Atkin and Jammi created the Check My Ads Institute, a non-profit watchdog organization focused on advertising technology, its role in promoting hate speech, and fraud within the industry.

Because of the automated and highly complex nature of these systems, companies often don't have much information about the websites on which their advertisements may eventually be displayed.

According to a Vice Media executive, articles they had published that pertained to George Floyd, protests, and Black Lives Matter earned 57% lower advertising rates despite being some of the most highly-visited.

This has allowed publishers to circumvent blocks from ad exchanges, as well as illegitimately draw better cost per mille (CPM).