By Jack Nicas and Nick Kostov
Google unveiled changes to its ad policies and enforcement
Tuesday, saying it would pull more advertising from controversial
content and give advertisers more control and visibility over where
their ads appear.
The steps come in response to an advertiser backlash over recent
reports that the Alphabet Inc. unit frequently displays ads next to
inappropriate content such as fabricated news stories or terrorist
videos.
The company also said it would employ more people and technology
to enforce the new policies.
"We know advertisers don't want their ads next to content that
doesn't align with their values," Google Chief Business Officer
Philipp Schindler said in a blog post Tuesday. "So starting today,
we're taking a tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory
content."
Major advertisers such as HSBC Holdings PLC and L'Oréal SA
reduced spending with Google in recent days after news reports that
Google regularly served their ads on controversial websites or
YouTube videos, including some made by supporters of terrorist
groups such as Islamic State and a violent pro-Nazi group.
Google had long said existing controls guard against marketers'
spots appearing alongside controversial content. But after the
advertiser pushback in the U.K., Google on Friday and again Monday
acknowledged that those measure fell short, and vowed to
improve.
The speed with which Google announced the measures suggests the
tools were already at its disposal. Yet enforcing the new policies
could be tricky. Google must screen a sea of content that every day
adds thousands of websites and nearly 600,000 hours of new YouTube
footage. And while some controversial content, such as pornography
or neo-Nazi sites, clearly violates its standards for advertising,
other cases are nuanced and require human review.
Google's announcement "is a first step. But, importantly, it
doesn't just end here," said Max Kalehoff, chief marketing officer
of SocialCode, which helps market brands on social networks
including YouTube.
Advertising on the internet involves a complex system that
automatically places ads in front of targeted audiences wherever
they are on the web, he said. "The notion of context is a moving
target. We're not talking about linear TV where you had a
spoon-fed, tightly controlled stream of content to a mass
audience," he added.
Google has long aimed to position itself as a neutral platform
connecting advertisers with vast amounts of content on the internet
created by others, including millions of videos on its YouTube site
and more than 2 million websites served by its ad-distribution
business. That approach has been lucrative for Google as it has
monetized far ends of the internet -- with sometimes edgy content
-- while also giving marketers a broader reach for their ads.
But with spending on digital ads surpassing that on television
ads last year in the U.S., according to eMarketer, increasing
scrutiny from advertisers is forcing internet companies like Google
and Facebook Inc. to take more responsibility for the content on
which they serve ads.
Google, in effect, is becoming a reluctant policeman for the
internet.
The British unit of Volkswagen AG's Audi, which had pulled its
YouTube ads, said Tuesday that it welcomes "the swift action Google
is taking to address these concerns," and "once we have a committed
time frame from Google clarifying when these safeguards will be
implemented across the board, we will have a closer discussion with
the brand and fully assess our position in the U.K."
Rob Norman, chief digital officer of the ad-buying unit of ad
company WPP, said that a handful of his clients suspended
advertising on YouTube in the U.K. and that his group has pressured
Google to improve controls for advertisers. "As with traditional
media owners, Google and other digital platforms should take
responsibility for their content," said WPP Chief Executive Martin
Sorrell.
Ad spending affected so far is relatively small, but the
attention to the issue prompted Pivotal Research Group analyst
Brian Wieser to downgrade Alphabet's stock to hold from buy.
"We think that awareness of the incident will marginally curtail
global growth this year vs. prior expectations," Mr. Wieser wrote
in a research note Monday.
Serving ads on third-party websites earned Google for $15.6
billion last year, or 17.3% of Alphabet's overall revenue. YouTube
revenue is unclear.
As part of the changes, Google plans to expand a policy that
prohibits ads from running alongside content that attacks or
harasses people based on their race, religion, gender or similar
categories. Current policy focuses on content that advocates
violence toward such groups; the new policy applies to any content
that is incendiary or demeaning to such people. That change is
likely to be among the most controversial with website owners and
YouTube video creators who rely on Google for ad revenues, as its
broad scope could include a wide variety of content.
The company also said it would place ads only on the YouTube
videos of "legitimate creators" and pull ads from the videos of
those that "impersonate other channels or violate our community
guidelines." Google also is reviewing its policies to determine
whether more YouTube videos should be removed from the site.
Google is changing the default settings for ads to limit them to
more mainstream sites and videos, requiring brands to opt in to
advertising on broader -- and sometimes edgier -- types of content
such as such as videos peddling extremist views, conspiracy
theories or misinformation. Google said it would simplify how
advertisers control where their ads appear, including giving
advertisers the ability to blacklist specific sites or YouTube
videos.
Google said it would give advertisers more transparency on where
their ads appear, though Mr. Schindler's post specifically
mentioned only the expansion to all advertisers of an existing tool
that tells brands every YouTube video on which their ads ran.
Google said it also plans to hire significant numbers of people and
develop technology "to increase our capacity to review questionable
content." And the company plans to make it easier for advertisers
to flag issues, with the goal of resolving problem cases within two
hours, a person familiar with the matter said.
A Google spokeswoman said the policies would take effect "in the
coming weeks."
Jack Marshall contributed to this article
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com and Nick Kostov at
Nick.Kostov@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 21, 2017 16:44 ET (20:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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