Google today apologised for allowing adverts to appear alongside offensive videos on YouTube as more big firms including MS and HSBC pulled their advertising.
The UK Government has suspended its marketing on YouTube after some public sector ads appeared next to videos with homophobic and anti-Semitic messages.
And Google’s European boss Matt Brittin said today he was sorry for ‘advertisers who might have been affected by their ads appearing on controversial content’.
Google’s European boss Matt Brittin (pictured today at the Advertising Week Europe event in London’s West End) has apologised for allowing adverts to appear alongside offensive videos
But the apology did not go far enough for home affairs select committee chair Yvette Cooper who said the company must do more to filter out extremist content.
Britain is Google’s second biggest market after the US, generating £6billion mainly from advertising in 2016, or nearly 9 per cent of the firm’s global revenue.
And, speaking during the annual Advertising Week Europe event at Picturehouse Central in London’s West End, Mr Brittin said sorry for the company’s failings.
He told the conference: ‘I would like to apologise to our partners and advertisers who might have been affected by their ads appearing on controversial content.’
Mr Brittin said Google was committed to doing better and would simplify advertiser controls, add safer defaults and increase investment to enforce its ad policies faster.
But Labour MP Miss Cooper, who has accused the company of ‘profiting from hatred’ in recent days, said the apology ‘doesn’t go far enough’.
She told The Guardian: ‘It isn’t enough for Google to respond only when their advertising revenues take a hit.
‘They are one of the biggest and most powerful companies on the planet. They can afford to do far more, far faster to deal with illegal and hate-filled content online.’
Vile: Masked figures marching in a recruitment video for the banned far-Right National Action, which has only just been taken down from YouTube
Last night, Marks Spencer pulled its advertising from YouTube as part of a growing boycott over its failure to remove extremist content.
The chain became the latest in a string of household names to suspend its marketing on the site because of concerns adverts are inadvertently funding terror groups.
Ministers are facing demands to take action against the internet giant after the Daily Mail found neo-Nazi videos remained on YouTube despite repeated warnings.
Fears about Google’s political influence also mounted after it emerged the firm’s bosses have met ministers at least once a month since the 2015 general election.
MS yesterday followed HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, McDonald’s, L’Oreal, Audi, the BBC, O2, the Royal Mail and Domino’s in pulling its advertising from YouTube.
Today, Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research Group, said: ‘Google faces a hostile industry of media owners in Europe… and we expect they will be all too happy to highlight future brand safety failings.’
He added: ‘Overall, we think that the problems which have come to light will have global repercussions as UK marketers potentially adapt their UK policies to other markets and as marketers around the world become more aware of the problem.
WPP, the world’s largest advertising firm, said today that it is talking to clients and media partners such as Google to find ways to prevent brands from being tarnished.
Founder Martin Sorrell said: ‘We have always said Google, Facebook and others are media companies and have the same responsibilities as any other media company.
‘They cannot masquerade as technology companies, particularly when they place advertisements.’
Google’s apology today did not go far enough for home affairs select committee chair Yvette Cooper (pictured) who said the company must do more to filter out extremist content
Publicis, the world’s third largest advertising firm, said today that it was clear Google had fallen short of meeting advertising standards and that the French company was reviewing its relationship with Google.
Google said on Friday it worked hard to remove ads appearing on pages or videos with hate speech, gory or offensive content but with 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute it did not always get it right.
A Google UK spokesman said it would look again at the way it defines incendiary commentary and hate speech to raise the bar on videos and sites allowed for advertising.
On Friday, Google executives were called in to face questions from the advertising industry and Britain over the issue.
A Government spokesman said today: ‘It is totally unacceptable that taxpayer-funded advertising has appeared next to inappropriate internet content – and that message was conveyed very clearly to Google.
‘The Cabinet Office has told Google it expects to see a plan and a timetable for work to improve protection of government adverts to ensure this doesn’t happen again. YouTube advertising remains on hold while that work is carried out.’
HOW THE YOUTUBE ROW HAS DEVELOPED OVER THE PAST WEEK
Monday: Google apologises to its ‘partners and advertisers who might have been affected by their ads appearing on controversial content’
Sunday: Marks and Spencer becomes the latest in a string of big names to suspend its marketing on YouTube
Friday: The BBC and the Cabinet Office are among a host of organisations to pull their adverts from YouTube
Friday: Havas, whose clients include O2 and Royal Mail, is claimed to be the first major global advertising company to announce that none of its budget will go to Google or YouTube
Friday: Home affairs select committee writes to Google asking for an explanation after Government adverts were placed on ‘hate-filled sites’
Thursday night: An investigation published by The Times claims that rape apologists, anti-Semites and hate preachers are among those receiving payouts from publicly subsidised adverts on Google’s YouTube
YouTube hands £6.15 of advertising revenue for every 1,000 views to those who post videos, meaning household names have unintentionally been funnelling cash to terror groups, neo-Nazis and homophobes. Many videos generate millions of hits.
In a bid to halt the advertising exodus, Google has admitted it ‘can and must do more’, and has promised to make changes ‘in the coming weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear.’
But an MS spokesman said yesterday: ‘In order to ensure brand safety, we are pausing activity across Google platforms whilst the matter is worked through.’
Google does not actively look for hate content on YouTube, instead waiting for users to flag it up. This has enraged many firms, which have found their brands promoted alongside terrorist videos.
The advertising boycott comes as the close links that Google has built with the top of Government were revealed today.
Prime Minister Theresa May, her predecessor David Cameron and Culture Secretary Karen Bradley are among 13 ministers who have held dozens of meetings with the internet giant since the election.
The extent of the cosy relationship between Google and Whitehall has sparked fresh concerns over the scale of the firm’s political clout.
In the 17 months between May 2015 and September last year, ministers held at least 27 meetings with the web company. Data for the past six months has yet to be published.
Mrs May met Google in July 2015, when she was home secretary, while the firm attended a business roundtable with then prime minister Mr Cameron that October.
Marks and Spencer last night pulled its advertising from Google’s YouTube as part of a growing boycott over its failure to remove extremist content
Internet safety minister Baroness Shields – a former Google managing director – met with her old firm seven times, which included discussions on online extremism.
Baroness Shields, who was made a peer by Mr Cameron, is one of dozens of Google executives who have been through a ‘revolving door’ between the tech company and Government.
The firm has hired at least 26 Whitehall staff, including No 10 aides, in the past decade.
HOW PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING WORKS
1) Internet user clicks on an extremist website or YouTube video.
2) User’s internet address sent to ‘advertising exchanges’ – the most profitable is Google run DoubleClick.
3) Advertising agencies hired by companies bid on the exchange to place an advert on the site or video. In most cases, the advertiser has no idea where the advert will be placed.
4) Advertisers are supposed to be able to blacklist extremist websites, but this relies on video creators honestly and accurately categorising their uploads, which in the case of extremist content is extremely rare.
5) A slice of the advertiser’s fee is paid to the person or group who created the website or uploaded the video.
Its staff have also headed in the opposite direction. Nigel Huddleston left his job as the search engine’s industry head of travel after being elected as a Tory MP in 2015.
Rachel Whetstone, a former aide to ex-Tory leader Michael Howard – and friend of Mr Cameron – later worked for Google as head of international communications. She is also married to the former PM’s ex-strategist, Steve Hilton.
The Tories lavished £312,000 on Google ads in the run-up to the election. Google chairman Eric Schmidt spent five years as a business adviser to Mr Cameron and previously gave the keynote speech at the Tory conference.
According to marketing experts, extremists have made £250,000 from adverts for household brands and public bodies hosted on Google. The search giant has earned around £120,000.
One of the biggest earning hate preachers is the Egyptian cleric Wagdi Ghoneim, who is banned from visiting the UK. His YouTube channel has netted him around £65,000.
The boycott of YouTube started on Friday, when ministers suspended all government advertising on the video- sharing platform until it could all but guarantee public money would not fund hate content.
Officials learned that adverts for public bodies such as UK Aid and the Metropolitan Police had been running alongside YouTube videos containing extremist material.
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