Because their promotions appeared alongside tweets promoting child pornography, some major advertisers, including Dyson, Mazda, and chemicals company Ecolab, have suspended their marketing campaigns or removed their ads from certain parts of Twitter, the companies told Reuters.
Approximately 30 advertisers have appeared on the profile pages of Twitter accounts that promote links to the exploitative material, according to a Reuters review of accounts found in new research about child sex abuse online from cybersecurity group Ghost Data. These advertisers include companies like Walt Disney Co, NBCUniversal, Coca-Cola Co, and a children’s hospital.
The Reuters examination discovered that some of the tweets appeared alongside promoted tweets from business sponsors and had key terms relating to “rape” and “teens.” In one instance, a user claimed to be “trading teen/child” content in a tweet that was followed by a sponsored tweet for the shoe and accessory company Cole Haan.
