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Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump’s campaign is inadvertently funding Chinese state media outlets and entities tied to the Kremlin through automated advertisements on YouTube, according to a study of thousands of videos on the Google service.
Omelas Inc, a Washington-based security software firm, reviewed the YouTube clips in early August and found 22 Trump campaign ads running on YouTube channels linked to the Chinese government.
While the dollar amounts are small, the purchases show how hard it can be for advertisers to control where their ads end up on YouTube, even when Google gives them the tools to avoid particular channels. However circuitous, the money flows strike a jarring tone for a campaign that has taken a hard line against China and a presidency that is cracking down on some of these very media outlets.
Some of the marketing spots ran before and during videos from China Global Television Network (CGTN) and China Radio International (CRI), Omelas said.
In February, the Trump Administration designated these outlets “foreign missions,†imposing requirements similar to those faced by embassies and consulates in the US, including registering their current properties and getting prior approval for any acquisitions of new ones.
Other Trump campaign ads ran on channels that are labeled on YouTube as funded by the Chinese government, according to the study.
Additionally, Omelas found 39 Trump campaign commercials on channels linked to the Russian government, including state broadcaster Russia Today, known as RT. In 2017, Google removed RT from premium YouTube inventory it sells to advertisers in the midst of a Congressional probe into how Russia used digital platforms to influence the US election.
“This is either ignorance of how YouTube works or indifference to donors’ money ending up in Beijing or Moscow’s pockets,†said Ben Dubow, chief technology officer of Omelas.
The study also looked for
ads from Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign, finding one on CGTN’s YouTube channel.
A Google spokeswoman said advertisers “have robust controls to opt-out†if they
prefer not to see their ads on specific types of content or channels.
Omelas reviewed the YouTube videos without logging into a Google account
online.