Verizon, AT&T pull Google ads

AT&T and Verizon are pulling out of certain Google advertising services over concerns that their ads would appear alongside content promoting hate speech and extremism.

Google was forced to announce changes to its ad policies this week after a Financial Times report showed that major companies’ ads were appearing alongside YouTube videos from hate groups, anti-Semites and other extremist sources.

“We are deeply concerned that our ads may have appeared alongside YouTube content promoting terrorism and hate,” an AT&T spokesman said in a statement Wednesday. “Until Google can ensure this won’t happen again, we are removing our ads from Google’s non-search platforms.”

{mosads}“Verizon is one of the largest advertisers in the world, and one of the most respected brands,” added a Verizon spokesman. “We take careful measure to ensure our brand is not impacted negatively. Once we were notified that our ads were appearing on non-sanctioned websites, we took immediate action to suspend this type of ad placement and launched an investigation.

“We are working with all of our digital advertising partners to understand the weak links so we can prevent this from happening in the future.”

Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler announced on Monday that the company, which owns YouTube, would be making a number of policy changes, including “removing ads more effectively from content that is attacking or harassing people based on their race, religion, gender or similar categories.”

Other high-profile companies such as McDonald’s, The Guardian and HSBC have also pulled ads from the service.

“We don’t comment on individual customers but as announced, we’ve begun an extensive review of our advertising policies and have made a public commitment to put in place changes that give brands more control over where their ads appear,” a Google spokeswoman told The Hill in a statement. “We’re also raising the bar for our ads policies to further safeguard our advertisers’ brands.”