Google is due to appear before the government after advertising funded by the taxpayer was displayed alongside extremist material on YouTube.
The Cabinet Office, Channel 4 and the BBC are among the companies to pull marketing from YouTube following a report from the Times into hate preachers receiving revenue from adverts placed against their videos.
Google, which has owned YouTube since 2006, said it had “strict guidelines” over its advert placement, but that “we don’t always get it right”.
Advertisers are able to create marketing material to appear on websites and videos through Google’s free AdSense service, and receive money for how often the adverts are seen and clicked on. Adverts are allocated to websites and videos automatically, meaning there is propensity for legitimate adverts to end up being run alongside unsuitable and extremist content.
A BBC 2 programme advert was run against a video posted by far-right group The National Rebirth of Poland, while the Guardian newspaper advertised against a Britain First clip.
The government has suspended its YouTube advertising “pending reassurances” from Google, while Channel 4 said it was not convinced the video platform was “a safe environment”.
The Guardian also confirmed it has stopped advertising through Google “with immediate effect until we receive guarantees that this won’t happen in the future.”
A government spokesperson confirmed Google had been “summoned to the Cabinet Office to explain how it will deliver the high quality of service that government demands on behalf of the taxpayer.”
“Google is responsible for ensuring that the high standards applied to government advertising are adhered to and that adverts do not appear alongside inappropriate content,” they added.
Google UK’s managing director Ronan Harris said: “We’ve begun a thorough review of our ads policies and brand controls, and we will be making changes in the coming weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear across YouTube and the Google Display Network.”
“We have strict guidelines that define where Google ads should appear,” a Google spokesman added. “In the vast majority of cases, our policies work as intended, protecting users and advertisers from harmful or inappropriate content.
“We accept that we don’t always get it right and that sometimes, ads appear where they should not…We will make changes to our policies and brand controls for advertisers.”