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Advertisers dump YouTube over questionable content featuring children

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Feb. 21, 2019, 5:33 PM GMT

By Kalhan Rosenblatt and Claire Atkinson

Nestlé and Epic Game have withdrawn ads from YouTube after a viral video claimed it had hosted videos featuring young children that included comments from pedophiles.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, said in a statement that any content that endangers minors is "abhorrent" and prohibited on its platform. It said comments that could be considered dangerous to minors are also banned.

"We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling violative comments. There's more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly,” the YouTube statement said.

Nestlé said the food and drink company was pausing its advertisements while YouTube investigated the inappropriate content.

“An extremely low volume of some of our advertisements were shown on videos on Youtube where inappropriate comments were being made," Nestlé said in a statement. "While investigations are on-going directly with YouTube and our partners, we have decided to pause advertising on YouTube globally, already effective in North America and several other markets."

"We will revise our decision upon completion of current measures being taken by Google to ensure Nestlé advertising standards are met,” it continued.

Epic Games, which makes the wildly popular video game Fortnite, said it had paused its pre-roll advertising, or the promotional video messages that play before content, with YouTube.

"Through our advertising agency, we have reached out to Google/YouTube to determine actions they’ll take to eliminate this type of content from their service,” an Epic Games spokesperson said.

Disney also pulled its ads from YouTube, according to Bloomberg.

The viral video, which prompted other companies to review their advertising on YouTube, was posted by user Matt Watson, who goes by "MattWhatItIs," on Sunday, Feb. 17. It showed how YouTube was suggesting content that featured underage girls after viewers watched videos of adult women.

Watson also showed how comments on these videos were timestamped to sexually suggestive moments in the videos or were inappropriate. The videos included suggestions that featured children licking Popsicles or doing gymnastics.

Tech-focused media outlet TechCrunch said it was able to reproduce the suggestions featuring young girls on YouTube, but it couldn't reproduce all of Watson's allegations.

Last month, YouTube said it was working to remove content from its suggestions that it considers close to violating its policies, including conspiracy and medically inaccurate material.

YouTube has been working since 2017 to regain advertisers' trust after it was discovered that ads were appearing on content that included hate speech. Brands including HSBC, U.K. retailer Marks and Spencer and L'Oreal pulled advertising from YouTube amid the fallout.

"There have been stories over the past few days about brands appearing against content that they wouldn't like to appear against and particularly on YouTube, and so for me it is a good opportunity for me to say, first and foremost, to say sorry this should not happen and we need to do better," Matt Brittin, Google's president of business and operations in Europe, the Mideast and Africa, said in March 2017.

Kalhan Rosenblatt is a reporter for NBC News, based in New York.

Claire Atkinson is the senior media editor for NBC News.

AT&T pulls ads from YouTube as concerns about content resurface

FILE PHOTO: An AT&T logo is seen at a AT&T building in New York City, October 23, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith/File Photo

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc pulled all its advertising from Alphabet Inc’s YouTube for the second time in two years after a magazine reported the platform displayed ads next to videos that showed the exploitation of children.

“Until Google can protect our brand from offensive content of any kind, we are removing all advertising from YouTube,” an AT&T spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.

The move comes just one month after the U.S. wireless carrier announced it would resume buying advertising on YouTube, after a nearly two-year boycott of the platform. The previous boycott was also due to concerns that its ads could run on videos featuring hate speech or other disturbing material.

The report by Wired magazine that commercials had run alongside offensive videos and comments also prompted food and beverage maker Nestle SA to pause advertising on YouTube earlier this week.

YouTube said it had removed some of the content, which violated its policies against child endangerment, nudity and other behavior it considers inappropriate. YouTube added that it disabled comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors.

“There’s more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly,” YouTube said in a statement.

YouTube derives most of its revenue from advertising, and it has been one of Google’s fastest-growing units as consumers spend an increasing amount of time watching videos online.

Google does not specify its revenue from YouTube. Advertising research firm EMarketer estimates YouTube will net $11.4 billion in worldwide revenue in 2019 after accounting for revenue shared with content producers.

Reporting by Sheila Dang in New York; Additional reporting by Paresh Dave in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

AT&T Joins Latest Brand Pullback From YouTube Over ‘Unsafe’ Content

AT&T Inc. is the latest to join a growing group of marketers halting their advertising on YouTube after it was found that the site served ads near inappropriate content again, putting pressure on the video platform to contain any new brand revolt.

“Until Google can protect our brand from offensive content of any kind, we are removing all advertising from YouTube,” an AT&T spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.

AT&T’s retreat is notable because it was one of the last major marketers to resume advertising on YouTube, part of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, after a number of them pulled out in 2017 over revelations that their ads there were running near offensive videos. AT&T said in January that it had taken time to be confident that similar problems wouldn’t recur.

Marketers including Clorox Co. , Nestlé SA, McDonald’s Corp. and “Fortnite” publisher Epic Games Inc. halted their YouTube advertising on Wednesday following reports that their ads were appearing next to videos of young girls that were marred by inappropriate user comments.

“What is happening with these videos is deeply disturbing,” said Clorox Chief Marketing Officer Stacey Grier in a statement. “We have paused our advertising on YouTube while Google addresses the situation.

Google executives tried to stem the damage Wednesday by arranging a conference call with marketers and ad buyers describing the steps they had taken to address the problem and promising an update within 24 hours.

On Thursday, YouTube distributed a memo that said it had suspended comments on tens of millions of videos that “are likely innocent but could be subject to predatory comments,” reduced the “discoverability” of similar videos, restricted ads from millions of videos, and terminated the accounts of “bad actors,” referring some of them to law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

YouTube said other efforts in progress include working on a tool to better spot predatory comments, developing ways to help YouTube channel owners monitor comments more effectively, trying to make it harder to discover the kind of videos in question and reviewing ad buyers’ controls for channels that feature minors.

“We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors,” a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement. “There’s more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly.”

Epic Games, which said Wednesday that it had asked YouTube what it would do to eliminate the inappropriate content from its service, said Thursday that it had no further comment. McDonald’s said Thursday that it had no further comment on the issue. A Nestlé representative didn’t respond to a request for comment.