Nestlé, Disney among brands halting ads on YouTube for offensive content

Nestlé, Disney, Epic Games and Dr Oetker have pulled out their ads from the YouTube platform following allegations of the presence of a paedophilia network. 

As per media reports, the move comes following the allegations made by vlogger Matt Watson in a YouTube video that a paedophile ring was active in the comments section of videos mostly of young girls engaged in various innocuous activities. 

While these videos were not sexual in nature, the comments were highly sexually suggestive. And every time one watched these videos, YouTube’s algorithm picked up similar videos and recommended them for viewing. The ads of Nestle, Disney and Epic Games were found running alongside these videos. 

This is not the first time that YouTube has landed in trouble for the content on its platform. About a couple of years back, several large brands had pulled out of YouTube after their ads had appeared alongside videos of people supporting terrorist groups.