by Maisie McCabe // March 23,2017
Terror survives on the oxygen of attention and it’s not good enough for Facebook and Google to say they are separate from content they host, according to DigitasLBi international chief creative officer Chris Clarke.
The unintended consequence of how the internet has been set up is causing the rise of terrorism and the alt-right online, Clarke said in an panel at Advertising Week Europe this morning. “The oxygen for the alt-right is the oxygen for terror,” he said.
The role of brands in funding terrorism through ads alongside extremist content online has been in the spotlight following an investigation in The Times. Major advertisers such as the UK government, HSBC and AT&T in the US have pulled spend from YouTube and Google’s display network following the scandal.
Clarke said: “It’s not good enough for Google and Facebook to say we’re separate from all of this. We’re neutral.
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