AT&T and Verizon are pulling their ads from YouTube and other sites that run Google ads after it was revealed that some of their ads have appeared next to extremist videos on YouTube.

The move represents a significant escalation of a business problem for Google.  AT&T and Verizon are among the world’s largest brand advertisers, and their decisions to temporarily stop buying YouTube ads could cause other big US advertisers to follow suit.

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

“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,” a Verizon spokesperson told Business Insider. “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.”

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