Advertisers pull digital ads over hate speech

AT&T, among the biggest advertisers in the United States, was one of several companies to say Wednesday that it would stop its ads from running on YouTube and other Google properties amid concern that Google is not doing enough to prevent brands from appearing next to offensive material, like hate speech.

AT&T made the move, which did not extend to Google’s search ads, amid boycotts of YouTube by several European advertisers that began in the last week, and it was announced a day after Google outlined steps it would take to stop ads from running next to “hateful, offensive and derogatory content” on YouTube and websites in its display network.

While Google pledged to improve, brands wanted to hear there would be zero risk that their ads would appear near content promoting things like hate speech and terrorism, said Brian Wieser, a media-industry analyst at Pivotal Research.

“They’re saying they’re trying harder — that’s insufficient,” Wieser said of Google. “They don’t seem to understand the scale of the perceived problem.”

Google has been under siege in Europe in the past week after reports that brands’ advertising appeared next to extremist material and other offensive content on YouTube and some of the roughly 2 million sites in Google’s display network.

The company has defended itself by noting that it prevents ads, which are placed on websites automatically, from running near inappropriate material “in the vast majority of cases.” It also said it added thousands of sites to its ad network every day, as well as 400 hours of video to YouTube every minute.

Now, the issue is taking hold with American advertisers, with the car-rental company Enterprise announcing a temporary halt of spending on YouTube on Wednesday. Verizon said Wednesday that it would suspend “all digital nonsearch advertising inventory” after learning its ads “were appearing on nonsanctioned websites.”