By Jack Nicas
Google's commitment to better police the millions of websites
and videos across its advertising network is complicated by the
very scale and diversity that has made the network so attractive to
marketers.
Google has built a massive advertising business in part by
automatically placing brands' ads on an unparalleled group of
third-party websites and YouTube videos to target specific
audiences. Yet some of those ads have appeared on videos supporting
terrorism, prompting brands such as AT&T Inc. and Johnson &
Johnson to cancel some of their advertising on Google or its
YouTube video platform.
Google says it will increase its use of technology -- in
addition to thousands of reviewers -- to screen content, part of
changes it announced this week to strengthen its policies and
enforcement to pull ads from controversial sites and videos.
But its software can be a blunt instrument. Technology it has
used in the past has allowed ads on many controversial videos,
removed them from innocuous ones, and mistakenly censored other
videos -- errors that could multiply as Google more aggressively
polices content.
Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., apologized Monday after the
software improperly blocked some popular videos, such as a music
video by pop stars Tegan and Sara, from a restricted version of
YouTube designed for schools. "Our system sometimes make mistakes
in understanding context and nuances when it assesses which videos
to" restrict, the company said in a post about the incident.
The incident sparked an outcry among YouTube video creators who
speculated Google was blocking gay and lesbian content in the
restricted version of the site. Google responded that gay and
lesbian content is available in the restricted version, "but videos
that discuss more sensitive issues may not be."
Google added in a statement that while no system for catching
inappropriate content "will be 100% perfect," measures it announced
this week "will further safeguard our advertisers' brands and we
are committed to being vigilant and continuing to improve over
time."
Google and Facebook Inc. have been reluctant policemen of the
internet, preferring to portray themselves as neutral platforms for
connecting users and advertisers to content created by others. But
as users spend more time and advertisers spend more money on their
platforms, pressure is mounting on the tech giants to confront
their gatekeeping role and decide what kind of content is
permissible.
Google is mostly facing pressure to remove ads from
objectionable websites and videos, which can cut off their funding,
but it also examines whether controversial videos can remain on its
YouTube site at all.
"The problem is thorny because not only is there such a long
tail [of sites and videos], but there's so much subjectivity to
what is or is not appropriate," said Adam Kleinberg, head of San
Francisco ad agency Traction Corp.
For years, advertisers have increased spending with Google,
which helped pioneer the automated ad-buying system, called
programmatic advertising, that gives marketers the reach and
accuracy to target specific audiences on far corners of the
internet.
But ad and tech executives say the nature of that system make it
hard to police.
"The advantage is you have access to a million publishers and a
billion articles. The disadvantage is you have access to a million
publishers and a billion articles," said David Rodnitzky, chief
executive of ad agency 3Q Digital. "It is very challenging to truly
control where an ad shows up."
Google sells ad space on more than 2 million third-party
websites and millions more YouTube videos. Each day, that inventory
grows by thousands of websites and nearly 600,000 hours of
videos.
Google software automatically scans YouTube videos' titles,
descriptions, images and dozens of other signals for signs that it
shouldn't include ads, such as nudity or references to terrorist
attacks. In many cases, the software can block advertising without
human review.
Even enforcing its existing policies can prove challenging for
Google. The company has placed ads on many sites peddling
fabricated news stories, including a promotion for one of its own
products -- the new Pixel smartphone -- next to a story that
falsely claimed Yoko Ono had an affair with Hillary Clinton .
As Google ramps up its policing of sites and videos, it could
end up upsetting website owners and video creators -- the people it
relies on to produce the wide variety of content against which it
can sell ads. For instance, Google's plan to expand its ad ban on
any content that advocates harm to certain groups of people --
based on a specific characteristic, such as their religion, gender
or race -- is likely to force Google to confront fringe sites and
videos.
Separately, the new policy could also ensnare some high-profile
voices. Google removed ads from several videos by YouTube's top
star, Felix Kjellberg, who goes by PewDiePie, that included
anti-Semitic jokes or Nazi imagery. Mr. Kjellberg said reports on
those videos by The Wall Street Journal and others took his humor
out of context.
But Google also faces criticism for being too strict. It
recently pulled advertising for a YouTube channel called "Real
Women, Real Stories" that features black-and-white videos of women
telling their stories of sexual harassment and abuse. The channel's
creator, Matan Uziel, said the decision cut off the project's
funding.
Mr. Uziel said his appeals of Google's decision were denied.
Google officials told him that it doesn't place ads on videos that
discuss sexual abuse and rape, according to emails reviewed by The
Wall Street Journal. After Mr. Uziel flagged similar videos that
still had ads, the officials said its software system to screen
such content isn't perfect.
Google officials then provided tips on tricking the system. "One
recommendation is to soften the title descriptions of your videos
going forward since some of the wording could be an automatic
trigger for our system which is primarily text driven," an official
said in one email, which was seen by the Journal. "We also
recommend that you use caution when describing assault situations
in your videos."
In response to a question about its interaction with Mr. Uziel,
Google said that it aims to keep educational videos on YouTube, but
"we do have strict advertising guidelines that prohibit ads against
sensitive subjects, including abuse."
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2017 11:50 ET (15:50 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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