Are Bots Illegal? Navigating Bot Usage in Digital Marketing

Bots. Are they created to be bad? Not always. But when they are used for malicious purposes, the consequences can be catastrophic for your digital marketing campaign.

At the end of the day, bots are not illegal. However, it is illegal to use these automated software programs for fraudulent activities.

Sounds confusing? We’re here to break down the use of bots in digital marketing and how they can both help and hinder marketing campaigns.

Unleash accuracy, defeat ad fraud, and supercharge your success

How Bots are Used in Digital Marketing

Bots, short for robots, are automated software programs designed to perform tasks on the internet.

Are bots legal? In some cases, yes. Legitimate bots follow the rules, so to speak, and can serve useful purposes. Examples include:

• Search Engine Bots: These bots crawl websites to index information for search engines, helping improve search accuracy and user experience.
• Chatbots: Designed to assist users by providing real-time answers and support, thereby enhancing customer service and engagement.

There are also bad bots, which are illegal. These are software programs designed to be malicious and wreak havoc on digital marketing campaigns. Think of:

• Click Farms: Utilize bots to artificially inflate the number of clicks on advertisements, leading to fraudulent charges for advertisers.
• Spam Bots: These bots send large volumes of unsolicited messages or comments, often violating anti-spam laws and regulations.

These bots simulate human interactions, such as clicking on ads, filling out forms, or even making purchases, leading to inflated metrics, wasted ad spend, and skewed performance data.

Understanding Bots and Ad Fraud

Internet bots are illegal when they carry out malicious activities, like ad fraud.

Remember, ad fraud refers to any deliberate activity that seeks to exploit online advertising systems. Bots are a major perpetrator of ad fraud by generating fraudulent clicks, impressions, or engagements. This fraudulent activity dupes advertisers who think their campaigns are more successful than they really are.

These bad bots are more than a nuisance. By impersonating human users to inflate numbers, bot accounts greedily consume ad budgets and skew data. This slow drain eventually leads to poor decision-making and a significant loss of ROI.

Are Bots Illegal? Laws Against Bad Bots

If malicious bots are so bad, there must be laws against them…right?

Yes, there are. However, putting a stop to the large number of robots completing repetitive tasks around the clock is difficult.

Various countries and states have enacted laws against bots that engage in fraudulent activities with varying success.

Two of the most recent legislation against bots are:

U.S. Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act

The BOTS Act was enacted in the United States to combat the unfair and deceptive practice of using bots to scoop up large quantities of tickets for concerts, sports events, and other entertainment events. This act specifically targets bots that bypass security measures on ticket-selling websites to purchase tickets in bulk, which are then resold at significantly higher prices.

Provisions: It prohibits the circumvention of control measures used by ticket issuers to ensure fair buying practices. The act makes it illegal to:

1. Bypass systems set up to limit the number of tickets one purchaser can buy.
2. Provide false information to circumvent purchase limits or other restrictions.
3. Resell or offer to resell tickets obtained in such a manner.

While this law primarily targets ticket scalping, it reflects a broader movement against the misuse of bots online. Violations of the BOTS Act can lead to significant fines and legal actions initiated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the state attorney general.

Related blog: Why Aren't There Laws to Stop Ad Fraud?

California Bot Disclosure Law

This law was introduced to foster transparency in the digital communications sphere, particularly where bots are used to interact with the public. The primary aim is to prevent bots from deceiving consumers into thinking they are interacting with human beings, which can be misleading and affect consumer decisions.

It requires companies to clearly disclose the use of bots when they are used in a way that might influence a consumer's purchasing decisions or any other transactions. This applies particularly in cases where bots simulate human activity, such as on social media platforms or in customer service applications.

Compliance is monitored by state regulators, and failure to disclose bot usage as stipulated by the law can result in penalties, fines, and other legal repercussions. This law aims to foster honesty in online interactions and can be seen as a step toward tighter regulation of bot usage in digital marketing.

What About Bots Committing Ad Fraud?

The specific regulations against bots vary by country. While there are no laws specifically against using bots for ad fraud, they do prohibit the use of bots for fraud in general. This can help ensure fair play in digital advertising.

So, even though there are currently no specific laws against them, it remains true that:

Spam bots are illegal: Spam bots are automated software programs designed to send unsolicited messages, typically in bulk. Many countries have strict anti-spam legislation that makes sending unsolicited bulk messages illegal. This is largely applied to email communications.

Bot farms are illegal: Bot farms are networks of computers or devices that are infected with malicious software and controlled remotely. These farms are often used to carry out automated tasks in masse, such as clicking ads (click fraud), generating fake internet traffic, or manipulating social media algorithms.

Creating a large number of bots is not illegal. However, bot farms are often used for malicious activities. They typically commit click fraud by mimicking legitimate user interactions on digital advertisements. This not only breaches the terms of service of most advertising platforms but also constitutes fraud.

Laws against bots are always evolving, and staying informed of these changes is crucial for marketers to stay one step ahead of fraudsters.

Bot Detection and Mitigation with Anura

While bots can be an asset in digital marketing, it's imperative to recognize the potential legal implications and negative consequences associated with their misuse, especially in the context of ad fraud.

To protect your digital marketing campaigns from the damaging effects of ad fraud, leveraging bot detection technology is crucial. Anura is designed to identify and mitigate the effects of ad fraud. By analyzing traffic and differentiating between genuine human interactions and bot engagements, Anura helps marketers make more informed decisions regarding their campaigns.

Anura’s cutting-edge technology detects even the most sophisticated bots, ensuring that your marketing data remains pure and uncorrupted. Anura even guarantees 99.999% accuracy when identifying visitors as bad when using the Anura Script integration. This can save your campaign budget, improve marketing accuracy, and protect your efforts from falling foul of laws against bots.

Ad fraud and bots pose significant challenges to digital marketers, but with the right tools and compliance measures, these challenges can be mitigated. By implementing Anura's bot detection solution, marketers can safeguard their campaigns, optimize their ad spend, and ensure compliance with laws against bots, ultimately driving better results and ROI.

Experience the power of Anura and discover just how much fraud you have with a free trial!