"It's VERY easy to buy ads on X / Twitter without actually using their ads manager / ad platform," D'Souza-Rauto wrote, adding that X has made a large proportion of its ad auctions available programmatically.

Google Ads has become the top buying platform on X, according to D'Souza-Rauto.

"This means that if you buy ads on Google Ads whether it be through Search Partners / Video Partners extensions to traditional Search / YouTube campaigns or enablement of GDN through PMAX / Demand Gen / Display campaigns, you will inherently buy X delivery," he wrote. It "is available at a very cheap CPM, further tricking the Google algos that may optimize to cheap traffic as a default on these campaign types."

Some may consider the brand-safety challenges, as the availability of X programmatic ad buying through Google Ads creates a lack of visibility into where their advertisements serve up. It  also comes with other challenges such as unauthorized images.

D'Souza-Rauto referenced Grok AI's prompt-based generation of indecent images that occurred on December 25, 2025, when users documented the system's ability to generate prohibited visual content involving minors. This incident placed xAI at the center of debates regarding automated safeguards and legal liabilities.

Making X's ad inventory available programmatically pulled the lever. In early 2025, X signed a partnership with Magnite, the latest ad-tech company in a string of deals signed with programmatic advertising companies, Business Insider reported after confirming it with Magnite.

Magnite operates a supply-side platform (SSP), technology that helps web publishers, app developers, and streaming TV providers manage and sell advertising. Other third-party sellers of X's ad inventory at the time included PubMatic, and Google.

This does not mean that Google has not implemented safeguards. Several major advertising platforms have launched or expanded enhanced website and placement exclusion tools to give advertisers greater control over where their ads appear. And it has become more important since AI-driven automation and agents has becomes the industry standard. 

Google has expanded its brand-suitability controls and data exclusion tools to support complexities of AI-heavy campaigns like Performance Max. Microsoft recently introduced significant updates to its website exclusion tools for Search and Audience campaigns. 

But protecting programmatic ads from appearing on X or similar sites is complex, and requires using platform-specific brand safety tools and third-party verification, because of direct programmatic exclusions due to closed walled gardens.