A boycott of Google and its platforms that began in the United Kingdom has spread to the United States amid backlash due to advertisements appearing next to hateful and offensive content.
Last week AT&T (No. 4 on the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc 2016 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) said in a statement, “We are deeply concerned that our ads may have appeared alongside YouTube content promoting terrorism and hate. Until Google can ensure this won’t happen again, we are removing our ads from Google’s nonsearch platforms.”
Johnson & Johnson (No. 8), General Motors (No. 48) and Walmart (one of Fair360, formerly DiversityInc’s 2016 25 Noteworthy Companies) also announced they would be pulling their advertisements as well.