Some of the most prominent tech companies around the world ran advertisements on a website showcasing child abuse images to support its activities, shedding light on the dark corners of digital advertising.
Encountering an online image so disturbing that it cannot be forgotten is a jarring experience. For Krzysztof Franaszek, this occurred during his work routine.
Franaszek oversees the advertising research firm Adalytics based in the US. While investigating the placement of US Department of Homeland Security ads online, he stumbled upon sexually explicit images of very young children on an image-sharing site called ImgBB, accompanied by ads from Fortune 500 companies.
Fransaszek promptly reported the findings to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and child protection organizations. One such organization, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, reported finding at least 35 flagged images of child sexual abuse material on ImgBB. The FBI and DHS did not provide detailed responses.
As Franaszek delved deeper, the issue of advertisements inadvertently funding illicit online activities became more evident, raising concerns about the flow of money into undesirable online spaces through digital ads.
On 7 February 2025, US Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal contacted Amazon, Google, and other mentioned ad tech companies, seeking explanations about the prevalence of such issues online. They emphasized the damaging impact of disseminating child sexual abuse material and the inadvertent financial support by major companies to criminal operations harming children.
The scrutiny on a few instances of child abuse images within a single website has drawn attention to broader challenges within the opaque realm of digital advertising. The inherent complexities of online ad placement underscore the ongoing concerns regarding oversight and accountability within the tech industry.
Efforts to address these concerns involve stricter vetting processes for websites in ad networks, stronger demands for accountability from advertisers, and enhanced regulations to ensure that ads do not inadvertently prop up illegal activities online.