On April 19, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenSlate, a brand safety company, refused to sign a contract with Google after being an approved partner since 2017. The contract would allegedly limit OpenSlate’s ability to report to clients when their ads play in YouTube videos with sensitive subject matter like “hate speech, adult content, children’s content, profanity, violence and illegal substances.” The contract would require OpenSlate to get prior approval from Google to share these metrics with its clients. One of Google’s brand-safety partners, DoubleVerify reported that it still delivers “unrestricted” reports to its clients. This news follows a universal ad decline amid the COVID-19 crisis, and tech companies scramble to continue monetizing content. Read more here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
