By Jack Nicas
Google sought to tamp down a growing controversy over its
placement of ads on inappropriate content with a promise to better
police the millions of websites and videos across its
platforms.
The company has faced a powerful backlash from advertisers over
the past several days. HSBC Holdings PLC and L'Oréal SA reduced
spending with the technology giant after news reports that Google
regularly placed 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 faction.
Google and other internet giants such as Facebook Inc. have long
aimed to position themselves as neutral platforms connecting users
and advertisers with content created by others. That approach
helped Google build the world's largest advertising business, in
part by selling ads on far ends of the internet with sometimes edgy
content.
But with estimates showing spending on digital ads surpassing
that on television ads last year in the U.S., increasing scrutiny
from advertisers is forcing internet companies to take more
responsibility for the content on which they run ads.
Under policies unveiled Tuesday, Google, a unit of Alphabet
Inc., said it would pull more advertising from controversial
websites and videos and give marketers more control and visibility
over where their ads appear. Google also said it would employ more
people and technology to enforce the 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."
Google had long said existing controls guard against marketers'
spots appearing alongside controversial content. The speed with
which Google announced the additional measures -- following an
apology on Friday -- 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.
"The reason Google has been reluctant on how to address this is
because they can't fully address it," said David Rodnitzky, head of
ad agency 3Q Digital. "They can build algorithms to find a hate
group or article a brand doesn't want to be associated with, but at
end of the day, the internet is a vast, sprawling, ever-changing
ecosystem that is impossible to ever solve with an algorithm."
Google already employs thousands of people to stop violations of
its existing ad policies. So Mr. Rodnitzky said he believes
Tuesday's changes are "window dressing to placate big
advertisers."
The British unit of Volkswagen AG's Audi, which had pulled its
YouTube ads, said it welcomed Google's "swift action" to address
concerns, but was awaiting clarity. "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.," the auto
maker said.
WPP said that a handful of its clients suspended advertising on
YouTube in the U.K. and that the ad firm 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.
Spending affected so far is relatively small, and touches a
subset of Google's business. Serving ads on third-party websites
brought in revenue of $15.6 billion last year, or 17.3% of
Alphabet's overall revenue. Alphabet doesn't disclose YouTube's
revenue.
But the issue prompted Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian
Wieser on Monday to downgrade Alphabet's stock to hold from buy. He
said Tuesday that the announced measures were too late. "Brand
safety has become one of the most important issues in the minds of
a typical large marketer," he said, so he predicted ad sending on
Google to fall slightly as a result of the controversy.
The planned changes at Google include expanding a policy that
prohibits ads from running alongside content that attacks or
harasses people based on race, religion, gender or similar
categories.
While current policy focuses on content that advocates violence
toward such groups, the new one applies to anything that is
incendiary or demeaning to them. That change likely will be
controversial with some website owners and video creators who rely
on Google for ad revenues, as its broad scope could include a wide
variety of content.
Google 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.
Google said it 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 videos peddling extremist views or misinformation.
Google said it would simplify how advertisers control where ads
appear, including enabling them to blacklist specific sites or
YouTube videos.
Google plans to give advertisers more transparency on where 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 run. Google also 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."
Nick Kostov and Jack Marshall contributed to this article.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 21, 2017 20:18 ET (00:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
HSBC (NYSE:HSBC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
HSBC (NYSE:HSBC)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024