YouTube said this week it has removed more than 150,000 videos featuring children that had been targeted by pedophiles in the comments section, according to an article published by Variety.
Some major brands are pulling their ads from YouTube again, this time because the ads are, in part, funding inappropriate videos of underage children.
The London TimesreportedFriday that companies like Adidas, Mars, HP, Deutsche Bank and Diageo said they will not return to the site until better safeguards are in place.
Currently, YouTube makes it easy for pedophiles to access inappropriate videos of underage children. The videos, sometimes posted by children themselves, attract pedophiles and create a community for them to communicate in the comment section.
"Pedophiles flock to such content, however, by searching for certain keywords in Russian that can bring up hundreds of young Slavic girls," The London Times reported.
YouTube announced last week that they deleted thousands of inappropriate videos and those who commented on them.
"Starting this week we will begin taking an even more aggressive stance by turning off all comments on videos of minors where we see these types of comments," YouTube said in a blog post.
The London Times said that one of the major issues is YouTube relies on third-party flagging and Google's algorithm to monitor videos and comments, instead of proactively monitoring them.
Because of the algorithm, after watching one video similarly inappropriate videos are suggested.
The announcement came the night before the busiest online shopping day of the year.
This is not the first time big brands have pulled their ads from YouTube. Earlier this year, brands like Proctor and Gamble and Verizon also froze spending on YouTube due to their ads running on videos that promoted hate speech and violence. Verizon has since resumed spending.
