Brands pull YouTube ads over images of children

Lidl, Cadbury maker Mondelez, Mars and other companies have pulled advertising from YouTube after the Times newspaper found the video-sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands.

Comments from hundreds of paedophiles were posted alongside the videos, which appeared to have been uploaded by the children themselves, according to a Times investigation. One clip of a pre-teenage girl in a nightie drew 6.5 million views.

The paper said YouTube, a unit of Alphabet subsidiary Google, had allowed sexualised imagery of children to be easily searchable and not lived up to promises to better monitor and police its services to protect children.

In response, a YouTube spokesman said: "There shouldn't be any ads running on this content and we are working urgently to fix this".

German discount retailer Lidl, Diageo - the maker of Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky - and chocolate makers Mondelez and Mars confirmed they had pulled advertising campaigns from YouTube.

"We are shocked and appalled to see that our adverts have appeared alongside such exploitative and inappropriate content," said Mars in a statement. "We have taken the decision to immediately suspend all our online advertising on YouTube and Google globally... Until we have confidence that appropriate safeguards are in place, we will not advertise on YouTube and Google."
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