We’ve been writing about the many issues Google ads have had for years, they way they appear on everything from ISIS recruitment to pirated content sites. The way they support human trafficking. The way they can actually throw hardcore porn banner on a legitimate local news site. The worlds most ‘democratic’ ad network is being undone by the very thing that made it appear everywhere. By placing ads on everything from Youtube channels to Blogger blogs, as well as sites with editorial oversight, Google was the least controlled ad market in the world. As well as the worlds largest, and possibly the laziest as Google suggested that the brands themselves should police the piracy sites, which would be the ad networks job, not the ad buyers.

Brands soon took the brunt of appearing on pirated sites, or having their ads support their competitors Youtube channel, receiving complaints and boycotts from consumers. The final straw was the ‘extreme’ content. For years violent, pirated, and controversial videos have been uploaded and monetized on Youtube and finally hundreds of companies suspended advertising in “row over extremist content” according to The Times in the UK.

Read the post on Adland.tv