These aren't news sections that are being outsourced, they're things like "The 9 best leggings on Amazon, according to fitness experts¹" and "Best pet insurance companies of September 2024²".
I'm pretty sure I saw a "Forbes" guide on how to beat some video game quest at some point, or some other video game thing people would have been searching for at the time. I understood it to be SEO spam but this whole comment section puts it into better context.
Click forbes.com, then hamburger icon, then scroll the list to the “advisor” or “health” news sections.
Sample sections from advisor:
- Cheap Car Insurance
- Pet Insurance
- How Much Is Pet Insurance?
- Cheap Pet Insurance
Under health, they have a sub-section “best cbd gummies”. I clicked on a few articles and they’re outsourced(?) amazon affiliate spam that claims Forbes actually tested the products.
The health section is served from forbes.com, but the navigation is different and includes a “back to forbes.com” button.
In some other parts of forbes.com they have clear disclaimers, like:
Innovation -> SAP Brand Voice | Paid program
So, they’re definitely trying to pass off the marketplace content as legitimate news sections.
I don't buy the claim that this is trying to pass as news. It just looks like 90% of the other review pages on the internet. Here's what I'm seeing:
At the top of the page I see an Advertising Disclosure link. After that I see a byline for the actual human freelancer that wrote the article.
After that I see a huge call-out that "Commissions we earn from partner links on this page do not affect our opinions or evaluations. Our editorial content is based on thorough research and guidance from the Forbes Health Advisory Board".
Below that is a "Featured Partner Offer" with an info popover that reads "Partner Offers feature brands who paid Forbes Health to appear at the top of our list. While this may influence where their products or services appear on our site, it in no way affects our ratings, which are based on thorough research, solid methodologies and expert advice. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services". The offer contains no rating or editorial text.
Below that is the methodology: "To determine the best CBD gummies, the Forbes Health editorial team analyzed data on over 100 CBD gummy products ... then ranked the CBD gummies based on price, potency, flavor options available and whether its ingredients are all natural, organic, gluten-free and/or vegan-friendly." They don't claim to have tested all of them.
>It just looks like 90% of the other review pages on the internet.
90% of websites are not in the top 10% of mainstream media big budget brand reputation... so if the top 10% look like the other 90%, that says something, and it's not good.
These sort of pay-to-play review marketing didn't originate on the internet. These are copies of arrangements that print media invented. My hometown newspaper had this kind of stuff too.