Google is suffering the after-effects of placing brand adverts beside extremist content, as large advertising firms begin to pull ads. So far, ads for brands such as Sky, Royal Mail, BBC and Audi have been removed from Google's search engine results pages, as well as from the Google-owned video site YouTube, with others expected to follow. Meanwhile, the major advertising group Havas has removed a number of ads on “behalf of its UK clients”, on the grounds that they inadvertently helped fund extremist groups. Some brands found that their ads were placed alongside YouTube videos published by the former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, which had enough views to garner an advertising payment from YouTube. The chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee accused Google of “profiting from hatred” online. Google executives will soon meet with UK government ministers to discuss the controversy.
