AT&T and Hasbro join YouTube exodus over paedophilia links
AT&T and Hasbro have become the latest big-name advertisers to withdraw from YouTube in the wake of a paedophile scandal; joining the likes of Disney, Nestle and Epic Games which have already quit.
AT&T and Hasbro join YouTube exodus over paedophilia links / YouTube
The escalating exodus has been sparked by media reports of paedophiles swarming towards videos depicting young children in their millions. They then share time stamps of nudity and passing inappropriate remarks. Many of these videos carry advertising.
Outlining its rationale an AT&T spokesperson told CNBC: “Until Google can protect our brand from offensive content of any kind, we are removing all advertising from YouTube.” AT&T had only just resumed advertising on YouTube last month after pulling all advertising spend in the wake of a related 2017 scandal focused on abusive and terror-related content.
Similarly, Hasbro said it was ‘pausing’ financial links until such time as Google/YouTube stipulate what actions they will take to ‘… prevent such content from appearing on their platform in the future’.
YouTube has moved to close down hundreds of channels associated with inappropriate content in recent days while also blocking comments on millions of videos.