Google’s ad exchange has a ‘porn and banned sites’ problem’, claims report; company denies

Google’s ad exchange has reportedly been serving advertising on hundreds of suspicious websites that are designated on the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list, a new report has revealed. According to the digital ads analysis group Adalytics, Google had been found to have run ads on hardcore pornography websites; sites hosting large amounts of pirated content; and websites of companies located in countries such as Iran and Russia that may be under sanctions by the US government.

GSP is a Google program that allows publishers to run custom Google searches within their sites, which extend Google Search campaigns.

“These included websites such as Breitbart.com, sites containing pirated content, hardcore pornographic sites, and hundreds of putative Iranian websites, which may potentially be under US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) sanctions,” the report said.