Google steps up fight to stop ads funding terror

The boss of Google UK has admitted the web giant needs to do more to prevent advertisers unwittingly funding terrorism.

Ronan Harris said agencies want to choose where to advertise, but argued that the distribution chains have become “quite complex”.

“I’m not sure we’ve done a good enough job of getting the balance right between making sure we give everybody the maximum choice in this and educating all the people down through the distribution chain,” he said at yesterday’s annual Deloitte and Enders media conference.

“It’s an area we’re working on closely with the ad and agency community.”

Big brands were revealed last month to have unknowingly advertised on extremist videos on Google-owned YouTube, inadvertently funding terrorism. Google shares YouTube ad revenues with video publishers.

Harris, who moved from Dublin to London last year to run Google’s UK and Ireland division, added: “We’ve got a huge responsibility to make sure we’re helping to root out truly offensive content online. We also have to make sure that we protect the principles of free speech.”

Harris also said Google was “working hard” to tackle fake news.