Twitter ran ads on profiles featuring child sexual abuse material

New reports surfacing online have revealed that Twitter ran advertisements from prominent companies on profiles that were spreading child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

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A new report from Insider states that the publication learned Twitter had run certain advertisements for products or services on profiles that were spreading CSAM and that following the discovery, Twitter has informed marketers that the social media platform has suspended the profiles in question. Advertisements that were run on these egregious profiles were from companies such as Coca-Cola, Disney, and NBC Universal, whose ads appeared next to the explicit and banned content.

The problem of CSAM material appearing on Twitter and other social media platforms has been around for quite some time, and Twitter last stated that it has implemented software that removes 91% of CSAM-spreading accounts. Notably, Twitter also said that during the second half of 2021, it removed 31% more profiles related to CSAM material. Reuters has reported that in light of these advertisements being misplaced, companies such as Dyson and Mazda have either suspended marketing campaigns with Twitter or decreased advertisements.

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Coca-Cola and Disney have both come out against the advertisements saying that it simply isn't acceptable. The timing of the CSAM material and advertisements comes during a long-fought legal battle with Elon Musk over the Tesla and SpaceX founder pulling out of the $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform, citing an illegitimate internally conducted estimation of the number of bot/spam accounts on Twitter.

As for updates on the trial, Musk is expected to be questioned under oath on why he pulled out of the $44 billion acquisition, with the latest date for Musk's questioning on October 6 and 7. Twitter and Musk's legal team are both conducting extensive reviews of documents and information ahead of the trial date that is locked in for October 17 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Twitter will be pushing for the court to determine that Musk decided to back out of the deal over declining global markets, while Musk will be arguing that Twitter violated their agreement by failing to provide accurate information on its userbase, which if ruled in favor of, will allow Musk to walk away from the deal without any financial penalty.