Major brands have begun pulling their ads from YouTube and Google after their ads appeared with content that had become the go-to for sexual predators.

The likes of Mars, Cadbury, Lidl, Deutsche Bank, and Adidas have all removed advertising from YouTube in what is the second mass exodus from the platform this year – following the advertiser boycott when ads were placed against extremist content.  

“We are shocked and appalled to see that our adverts have appeared alongside such exploitative and inappropriate content,” a Mars spokesperson told the Guardian. “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.”

The decision made by the brands comes despite YouTube laying out a plan that will see it taking a tougher stance on predatory behaviour and exploitative videos in order to keep kids safer on the platform in future.

The Google-owned video sharing site was forced to act after a variety of reports surrounding both the type of content kids were seeing on YouTube and the predatory environment they were being subjected to.

Despite the questions raised against YouTube and its policy changes so far, it is believed that could be somewhere in the region of 50,000 to 100,000 predatory accounts still active on the platform.