Google promises policy review as more big spenders pull ads
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00:00 26/04/24
Alphabet's biggest division Google promised a big push against its controversial advertising policies on Thursday, as big-spending firms on both sides of the Atlantic continued to pull their marketing from the web giant’s platform.
A Google spokesperson told media on Thursday that the firm had started an “extensive” review of its advertising policies.
They said it would “raise the bar” in its policies as well, to “safeguard our advertisers’ brands”.
The spokesperson added that Google had made a public commitment to implement changes, that would give brands more control over where on the internet their advertising appeared.
A storm of controversy first erupted in the UK earlier in the week, when The Times reported instances where UK taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns were run ahead of and next to videos promoting hatred or provoking offence.
The list of brands that pulled some or all of their advertising from Google in the wake of those revelations included Aviva, the BBC, Channel 4, Hertz, ITV, L’Oreal, Lloyds Bank, Marks & Spencer, McDonald’s, O2, RBS, Toyota, Tesco, and Volkswagen, as well as the UK Government.
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported American telecoms giants Verizon and AT&T had now pulled their non-search advertising in the US, while consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson had stopped all advertising globally on YouTube.