Twitter’s challenges in identifying child abuse content were first reported in an investigation by tech news site The Verge in late August. She added that Twitter is working closely with its advertising clients and partners to investigate and take steps to prevent the situation from happening again. In a statement, Twitter spokesperson Celeste Carswell said the company “has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation” and is investing more resources dedicated to child safety, including hiring for new positions to write policy and implement solutions. Scottish Rite did not return multiple requests for comment. In another example, a user tweeted searching for content of “Yung girls ONLY, NO Boys,” which was immediately followed by a promoted tweet for Texas-based Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital. “Either Twitter is going to fix this, or we’ll fix it by any means we can, which includes not buying Twitter ads.” “We’re horrified,” David Maddocks, brand president at Cole Haan, told Reuters after being notified that the company’s ads appeared alongside such tweets. In one example, a promoted tweet for shoe and accessories brand Cole Haan appeared next to a tweet in which a user said they were “trading teen/child” content. Some of tweets include key words related to “rape” and “teens,” and appeared alongside promoted tweets from corporate advertisers, the Reuters review found.
Some major advertisers including Dyson, Mazda and chemicals company Ecolab have suspended their marketing campaigns or removed their ads from parts of Twitter because their promotions appeared alongside tweets soliciting child pornography, the companies told Reuters.īrands ranging from Walt Disney Co, NBCUniversal, and Coca-Cola to a children’s hospital were among some 30 advertisers that have appeared on the profile pages of Twitter accounts that peddle links to the exploitative material, according to a Reuters review of accounts identified in new research about child sex abuse online from cybersecurity group Ghost Data.