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Google has failed to convince major brands (such as AT&T, Verizon, Enterprise Holdings, Volkswagen, and Tesco) to continue advertising on YouTube, following the "revelation" that ads can appear next to extremist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, raunchy, etc. content. From Google's Tuesday response:
We know advertisers don't want their ads next to content that doesn't align with their values. So starting today, we're taking a tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory content. This includes removing ads more effectively from content that is attacking or harassing people based on their race, religion, gender or similar categories. This change will enable us to take action, where appropriate, on a larger set of ads and sites. We'll also tighten safeguards to ensure that ads show up only against legitimate creators in our YouTube Partner Program—as opposed to those who impersonate other channels or violate our community guidelines. Finally, we won't stop at taking down ads. The YouTube team is taking a hard look at our existing community guidelines to determine what content is allowed on the platform—not just what content can be monetized. [...] We're changing the default settings for ads so that they show on content that meets a higher level of brand safety and excludes potentially objectionable content that advertisers may prefer not to advertise against. Brands can opt in to advertise on broader types of content if they choose.
The growing boycott started in the UK:
On Friday, the U.K. arm of the Havas agency, whose clients include the BBC and Royal Mail, said it would halt spending on YouTube and Web display ads in Google's digital advertising network. In doing so, Havas UK CEO Paul Frampton cited a duty to protect clients and "ensure their brands are not at all compromised" by appearing alongside or seeming to sponsor inappropriate content. The decision by a global marketing group with a U.K. digital budget of more than $200 million to put its dealings with Google on "pause" followed a recent controversy over YouTube star Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg, who lost a lucrative production contract with Maker Studios and its owner, Walt Disney Co., over "a series of anti-Semitic jokes and Nazi-related images in his videos," as the Two-way reported. As the BBC reports, "Several high profile companies, including Marks and Spencer, Audi, RBS and L'Oreal, have pulled online advertising from YouTube."
Google's Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler also promised to develop "new tools powered by our latest advancements in AI and machine learning to increase our capacity to review questionable content for advertising".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 27 2017, @12:27AM (1 child)
Ah, isn't binary thinking great?
He simply responded to the argument being made.
You can make nazis and fart noises moral equivalents and then we can all finally see that nazis really aren't so bad.
Straw man.
I don't know about you, but as a jew I have zero interest in sending my money to people advocating for my death.
I have zero interest in sending my money to people who support mass surveillance. I have zero interest in sending my money to people who support things like the TSA. I believe both groups are reprehensible authoritarians, and I'm not even slightly exaggerating. If we play this game consistently, ads are going to disappear from Youtube entirely (good, I say). But we're not being consistent, so only things that offend particular people will get removed or have their ads pulled.
And why is it always about nazis? Pro-nazi videos are far from the only types of videos that have their ads pulled, and usually the system is at least partly automated and it's impossible to see how decisions are made or to have mistakes fixed. I can't see why anyone would be in favor of such a crazy system.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Monday March 27 2017, @03:26PM
If we play this game consistently, ads are going to disappear from Youtube entirely (good, I say).
If that happens, YouTube will either die, or switch to a new revenue stream. Which do you propose?