By Bob Carr, Managing Partner, We-Ha.com

At We-Ha.com we are committed to the reader experience and serving advertisements that are relevant and appropriate. Several readers have complained that they are receiving “ICE” ads in their We-Ha.com articles. As previously noted, We-Ha is not directly responsible for these ads.

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While We-Ha.com, based on our mission to cover West Hartford specifically, is a successful digital news site, being a news source for a single town limits our revenue opportunities. We work hard to create a trusted, readable (no continual pop-up ads, no “click bait,” no constant “breaking news”) digital news site.

While our readership and revenue has continually increased, the costs of doing business and expanding our coverage far outstrip the income from our local contributors and advertisers. We rely on national ads for about 10% of our income. Those ads are served via a bid system where we provide specific “real estate.” The winning bidder gets to place the ad. These are blind bids controlled by a third party. We can seek to block specific ads – an example would be ads that promote violent video games. Blocking a specific “general interest” ad is much more difficult, and frankly I don’t believe we should. The ad in question is a general interest ad providing a job opportunity to anyone willing to apply to be an ICE agent. We can debate the merits of paying a $50,000 signing bonus while social safety net services are being cut. That is commentary and not news.

Any ad served by a third party on our site can be blocked by the reader. There is a box in the upper right- or left-hand corner of an ad and any non-native (meaning not sold by We-Ha directly) ad. The reader can click on the arrow, or the three dots, or sometimes an “X,” and there will be a question or two asking why you want to block the ad.

Finally, not every reader has seen or will see the “ICE” ad. The personal and family information, demographics, search history, buying history, an email question, AI search, spoken words, and a thousand other data points will create a targeted ad specifically sent to “you” through an open bid, programmatic, ad. It is the times we live in. You do have a modicum of control over this. As mentioned above every ad that is on our site, not sold directly by We-Ha.com, can be blocked. Also, you can always reach us. We do take our readers concerns very seriously.

Email any questions or concerns to [email protected].

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