Epic Games has pulled all pre-roll ads off YouTube after Fortnite ads were found to be playing ahead of videos used to exploit minors. Epic Games and YouTube will no longer play Fortnite pre-roll ads after an investigation found the ads playing on predator-focused videos. Basically, what has happened, according to a report on The Verge, is pedophiles are frequenting or stealing posted videos of children, making lewd comments, and time-stamping points in the video which, in their eyes, features a sexually gratifying image. This has been going on for quite some time, but former YouTuber Matt Watson brought it into the white hot spotlight earlier this week. In his video, Watson demonstrates how YouTube’s recommended algorithm helps facilitate pedophiles’ “ability to connect with each-other, trade contact info, and link to actual [child pornography] in the comments.” “I can consistently get access to it from vanilla, never-before-used YouTube accounts via innocuous videos in less than ten minutes, in sometimes less than five clicks,” he stated. “Additionally, I have video evidence that these videos are being monetized by YouTube, brands like McDonald’s, Lysol, Disney, Reese’s, and more.” Fortnite was one such monetized ad, and the reason Epic Games pulled all pre-roll ads which start ahead of a video. “Through our advertising agency, we have reached out to Google/YouTube to determine actions they’ll take to eliminate this type of content from their service,” Epic Games told The Verge. Advertisers in the past have threatened to pull YouTube ads over “terrorism and hateful content” and anti-Semitic imagery.” YouTube admits there is more it can do to catch abuse, and in a more timely manner. In this particular instance, the service took immediate action. “We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling violative comments,” a YouTube spokesperson told The Verge. “Any content — including comments — that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube.” Disney and Nestle have also suspended advertising on YouTube over exploitation and pedophile networking. AT&T, which just recently started advertising on YouTube again after a two-year boycott, has pulled its ads as well. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) has also called upon YouTube to remove all pornography from its platform, and to create more proactive policies to combat sexual exploitation. “The National Center on Sexual Exploitation and other advocates have been trying to alert YouTube to these problems for years,” said the organization’s VP of advocacy and outreach Haley Halverson in a press mail. “In April 2018 YouTube was criticized for allowing a pornographic ad to appear on a trending YouTube video, and in November 2017 it was revealed that YouTube’s flagging system to prevent child victimization on its platform was reportedly malfunctioning for a year. “Even the YouTubeKids app has been infiltrated with disturbing and often sexual content.” If you wish to watch Watson’s video, and you should, hit up the link. Keep in mind it can be a bit disturbing and rage educing.<doc-sep>Epic Games is no longer running “Fortnite” pre-roll ads on YouTube after it was discovered they were playing on videos alleged predators used to exploit children, according to The Verge. The developer has paused all of its pre-roll advertising, which plays before a video starts on the streaming platform, a spokesperson said. It also reached out to Google to determine what actions, if any, the company will take to remove the exploitative content from its service. Former YouTube creator Matt Watson raised concerns about the content days ago in a YouTube video and Reddit post. In his video, he demonstrated how a search for something seemingly innocuous like “bikini haul” — videos where women show off various swimsuits they’ve purchased — can lead to disturbing examples of child exploitation. Although the clips aren’t pornographic in nature, the predators allegedly timestamp parts that unintentionally sexualize the children in the scene and share them in the video’s comments section. “YouTube’s recommended algorithm is facilitating pedophiles’ ability to connect with each-other, trade contact info, and link to actual child pornography in the comments,” Watson wrote on Reddit. “I can consistently get access to it from vanilla, never-before-used YouTube accounts via innocuous videos in less than ten minutes, in sometimes less than five clicks.” Although Watson doesn’t call out “Fortnite” specifically, he does show various examples of the products and companies being advertised before the videos, including Grammarly, GNC, and Google’s own Chromebook. A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge it took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels. It also reported illegal activity to the authorities and disabled what it called “violative comments.” “Any content — including comments — that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube,” the spokesperson said. “There’s more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly.” Variety contacted Epic Games to find out if it plans to resume advertising on YouTube, but it couldn’t say when, or if, that will happen.<doc-sep>A hot potato: Following a child predator controversy on YouTube, Epic has decided to pull its Fortnite pre-roll ads it was showing. Pre-roll ads are the short commercials (often skippable) that play before videos. Epic became aware that some of the content is being used by child predators to exploit children. On Tuesday, it was learned that some YouTube content was being used by pedophiles in an exploitative manner. The videos themselves are not necessarily against the terms of service, but predators are using them to organize with once another and share links to child pornography. Epic is one of several companies to take action against the content. On Wednesday, it announced it was halting Fortnite ads on the platform until YouTube addresses the problem. “We have paused all pre-roll advertising,” a spokesperson for Epic told The Verge. “Through our advertising agency, we have reached out to Google/YouTube to determine actions they’ll take to eliminate this type of content from their service.” The controversy stems from the discovery that certain videos on YouTube that target or feature children have been subjected to predatory comments. Former YouTube content creator Matt Watson exposed the problem. He calls it a "wormhole into a soft-core pedophilia ring on YouTube." Watson explained that a search for something like “bikini haul,” which is where female YouTubers show various bikinis they have purchased, can lead to related “exploitative” videos of children. While the videos are not pornographic, they may feature children dressed in swimwear in displaying suggestive poses. In the comments, you can find where predators have left timestamps to parts of the videos that “sexualize” the children. “YouTube’s recommended algorithm is facilitating pedophiles’ ability to connect with each-other, trade contact info, and link to actual child pornography in the comments,” said Watson. “I can consistently get access to it from vanilla, never-before-used YouTube accounts via innocuous videos in less than ten minutes, in sometimes less than five clicks.” Epic is not the only advertiser that has pulled ads. Several other companies have halted marketing efforts on YouTube over the mess. Wired notes that stationary bike maker Peloton “was working with its media buying agency to investigate why its adverts were being displayed against such videos.” It is also not the first time such an ad boycott has occurred. Similar movements happened when media outlets exposed terrorism and hate-filled content posted on the site. Another uproar resulted after PewDiePie posted a video that contained some anti-Semitic imagery. YouTuber’s humorously refer to these advertising bans as “ adpocalypse.” As far as what YouTube plans to do about the situation, a spokesperson had this to say: “We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling violative comments. Any content — including comments — that endangers minors is abhorrent, and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube. There’s more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly.” It is unclear if these actions and assurances are enough to get Epic and others to begin running ads again.<doc-sep>
Epic Games has stopped plugging Fortnite pre-roll ads on YouTube videos following a discovery that ads were playing on videos predators used to exploit children. “We have paused all pre-roll advertising,” an Epic Games spokesperson told The Verge. “Through our advertising agency, we have reached out to Google/YouTube to determine actions they’ll take to eliminate this type of content from their service.” Pre-roll ads, which play before a video starts, for companies like Grammarly and Google Chromebooks played on some of the videos that creator Matt Watson found for his original explainer that sparked conversation. Other companies with featured ads on videos, which starred children and whose comments sections were full of comments from predators, have also asked YouTube to rectify the situation. A spokesperson for Peloton, the company behind the popular exercise bike, told Wired that “it was working with its media buying agency to investigate why its adverts were being displayed against such videos.” Many of these videos came to light in a video by Watson, who demonstrated that searching for something like “bikini haul,” in which women show various swimsuits they have purchased, can often lead to exploitative videos of children. The comment sections are often full of predators timestamping certain parts of a video that sexualizes the child or children in the scene, although the videos themselves aren’t pornographic in nature. Watson’s video quickly circulated online, and a lengthy post on Reddit remained on the front page for quite some time. “Through our advertising agency, we have reached out to Google/YouTube to determine actions they’ll take to eliminate this type of content from their service.” “YouTube’s recommended algorithm is facilitating pedophiles’ ability to connect with each-other, trade contact info, and link to actual child pornography in the comments,” Watson wrote on Reddit. “I can consistently get access to it from vanilla, never-before-used YouTube accounts via innocuous videos in less than ten minutes, in sometimes less than five clicks.” A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge, “We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling violative comments.” Ensuring that advertisers commercials don’t run on videos with disturbing content is something that YouTube has worked on for some time. “Any content — including comments — that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube,” the spokesperson said. “There’s more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly.” This has happened in the past, and the result is something the creator community refers to as the “adpocalypse.” Advertisers threatened to pull ads from the platform following a series of articles that highlighted terrorism and hateful content running on the platform. Concerns from advertisers grew after YouTube’s biggest creator, PewDiePie, garnered international coverage over a video that contained anti-Semitic imagery. YouTube has given advertisers more control over what genre of videos their ads run on as well as certain types of videos they don’t want their ads to run on, over the last couple of years. For example, advertisers can tell YouTube they want to run ads on videos that fall under sports and music, but not video games, and YouTube will distribute ads on channels that fall under those categories. Hypothetically, if a channel that features young children performing gymnastics or showcasing choreography, and their channel meets YouTube’s AdSense requirements, then an advertisement for a Google Chromebook could appear on a video that has also attracted predators in the comments section. It’s unclear when Epic Games will bring Fortnite pre-roll ads back to YouTube.