Baidu Shares Surge After Official Launch of Advanced Ernie 5.0 AI Model 
Micron to Buy Powerchip Fab for $1.8 Billion, Shares Surge Nearly 10% 
TikTok Expands AI Age-Detection Technology Across Europe Amid Rising Regulatory Pressure 
Elon Musk Shares Bold Vision for AI, Robots, and Space at Davos 
South Korea Seeks Favorable U.S. Tariff Terms on Memory Chip Imports 
Nintendo Stock Jumps as Switch 2 Becomes Best-Selling Console in the U.S. in 2025 
Microsoft Restores Microsoft 365 Services After Widespread Outage 
Rewardy Wallet Integrates 1inch Swap API to Enable Gasless, Optimized Token Swaps 
U.S. Lawmakers Demand Scrutiny of TikTok-ByteDance Deal Amid National Security Concerns 
Tesla Plans FSD Subscription Price Hikes as Autonomous Capabilities Advance 
Intel Stock Slides Despite Earnings Beat as Weak Q1 Outlook Raises Concerns 
OpenAI Launches Stargate Community Plan to Offset Energy Costs and Support Local Power Infrastructure 
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Plans China Visit Amid AI Chip Market Uncertainty 
HKEX’s Permissive IPO Rules Could Open Opportunities for Korea to Strengthen Its Position in International Listings 
Global DRAM Chip Shortage Puts Automakers Under New Cost and Supply Pressure 
Already facing the wrath of EU brands over the appearance of their ads on hateful content on YouTube, Google now has to contend with the decision by AT&T and Verizon to pull their ads as well. Considering that AT&T is the single biggest spender in ads in the US, the search engine company certainly has a lot to lose. Google had already implemented some changes to how the ads are distributed, but the major brands are holding their cards back for now.
Ad revenue makes up the vast majority of Google’s earnings, with 2016 seeing a whopping $79.4 billion in revenue, Bloomberg reports. This number comes from a variety of brands wanting to expose the hundreds of millions of users on both its search engine and YouTube platforms to their products and services.
However, these major companies also have conditions when it comes to where their ads should be shown and hate speech videos are certainly not among them. Verizon and AT&T are particularly averse to being tied to offensive content thanks to the predominantly progressive consumer base that it has.
“We are deeply concerned that our ads may have appeared alongside YouTube content promoting terrorism and hate,” an AT&T spokesperson. “Until Google can ensure this won’t happen again, we are removing our ads from Google’s non-search platforms.”
A spokesperson from Verizon also assured that the company took immediate action to suspend its advertising deal with Google once it found it that their ads were showing up on so-called “non-sanctioned websites.” This decision by the two carriers puts them on the same list as companies like Audi, McDonald’s, and Toyota, The Verge reports.
It’s likely that the Google will fix this issue in short order, at which point, the companies will start dealing with the tech giant again. Considering that AT&T spent about $941.96 billion in ads last year in the US, it would certainly be a huge loss for Google if it doesn’t.
