• by Wendy Davis , February 10, 2025

Two senators are criticizing Google, Amazon, the Trustworthy Accountability Group, DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science and the Media Ratings Council over allegations that they participated in delivering or measuring ads on two related websites that host child pornography.

“We write to express our grave concern that Google’s advertising technology has supported the monetization of websites that have been known to host child sexual abuse material (CSAM),” Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) say in a letter sent Friday to the company.

“Google has failed to perform due diligence in identifying businesses that conduct illegal activity using its products,” the lawmakers add.

They sent a similar letter to Amazon.

The lawmakers cited a recent Adalytics report that ads from large brands have appeared on the image uploading site imgbb.com -- and its affiliate, ibb.co -- that have allegedly hosted child pornography since at least 2021. That report said ads from dozens of major companies -- including Starbucks, PepsiCo (Gatorade), Honda, and Adidas -- have appeared on imgbb.com.

An Amazon spokesperson said, “We regret that this occurred and have swiftly taken action to block these websites from showing our ads.”

“We have strict policies in place against serving ads on content of this nature, and we are taking additional steps to help ensure this does not happen in the future,” the spokesperson added.

A Google spokesperson said the company has “zero tolerance when it comes to content promoting child sexual abuse and exploitation,” adding that it “took action” last year on the sites named in the report.

“Our teams are constantly monitoring Google’s publisher network for this type of content and we refer information to the appropriate authorities," the spokesperson stated.

The lawmakers also said in a letter to the Trustworthy Accountability Group that its “actions here -- or at best, inaction” raised concerns, adding that advertisers “unwittingly advertised on a website known to host CSAM” despite working with ad tech vendors accredited by the group for brand safety.

“We urge your organization to strengthen and adequately enforce its standards so accredited vendors are no longer allowed to support the funding of CSAM and other illegal websites,” the lawmakers wrote.

Blackburn and Blumenthal sent similar letters to Integral Ad Science, DoubleVerify and the Media Ratings Council.

The letter to DoubleVerify says “many advertisers rely on DoubleVerify’s services to place their ads and operate under the assumption that their ads will not appear adjacent to or fund harmful content and illicit websites.”

That letter goes on to allege that advertisers who use DoubleVerify's brand safety products “are still unable to verify where their advertising appears and what their dollars are funding.”

“As a vendor whose code appears directly in ads that serve on a given page, DoubleVerify should have visibility into the full-page URL where an ad is rendered,” Blackburn and Blumenthal write. “However, we understand that DoubleVerify generally withholds long-term, granular page-level data from its clients.”

DoubleVerify stated Friday that it is “conducting an additional comprehensive review of ad-supported image-hosting sites on the open web that are within our system,” and is “defining a mechanism to block anonymous, profile-based image-hosting sites at scale.”

The company also said its “blocking controls” have prevented “tens of thousands of ads from appearing” on imgbb.com in the past 30 days.

Integral Ads Science stated Friday that it “immediately” listed the domains in the Adalytics report as “ineligible for monetization due to the potential high-risk nature of their content as user-generated photo sharing sites.”

The company added that it reviewed the sites named in the report and will reassess how it classifies image-hosting sites.

The lawmakers have asked all companies receiving letters to answer a series of questions relating to ads on sites with child sex abuse material. Blackburn and Blumenthal specifically ask Google and Amazon what steps they take to vet companies that monetize their sites with Google's and Amazon's ad tech, among other questions.

The nonprofit watchdog Check My Ads on Sunday filed a complaint with the Trustworthy Accountability Group, alleging that “several vendors” that are verified by the group, and certified by it for brand safety, have violated the organization's standards.

“Certification without enforcement is a scourge on the industry that undermines trust,” Check My Ads writes.

The watchdog is asking the accountability organization to suspend the certification of companies involved in placing ads on sites that host child pornography.