Publishers have tried to stop these bots on their own, but they need help. But bad bots don’t click on ads, and they don’t pay for subscriptions. Many publishers, especially local news providers, are already operating at razor-thin margins and can’t afford the higher technical costs that come with this deluge of bad bots. The news industry – from the largest corporations to the smallest local newsrooms – has tried to block these bots using technical fixes, but bad bots are so advanced that they’re able to disguise themselves to look like good bots or even humans. It doesn’t ban bots outright, but forces them to identify themselves, a common sense transparency measure which gives news publishers the information they need to block bad bots themselves, with Federal Trade Commission and other enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance.