Telstra is the latest Australian company to join the global advertiser boycott of YouTube over fears its brand was being associated with bigoted or extremist content.
The telecommunications giant said on Tuesday it was working with YouTube owner Google to ensure its strict advertising guidelines were upheld, but in the meantime was suspending ads from the video platform.
"We have made the decision to pause our advertising on YouTube until we are satisfied there is an appropriate level of protection for our brand," a Telstra spokesman said.
Telstra had been made aware that a pre-roll video advertisement and a side banner were running on a video published by a "men's rights activist" that attacked writer and Fairfax Media columnist Clementine Ford.
The video suggests that "Twitter feminists" are "a pack of c---s".
Bunnings, Foxtel and Caltex all pulled ads from YouTube on Monday after becoming aware their ads were running on videos published by racists.
Car makers Holden and Kia Australia pulled the pin on YouTube over the weekend after their ads were found on a video that included misogynistic expletives directed at journalist and businesswoman Ita Buttrose.
Meanwhile, Fairfax Media noticed a significant reduction in advertising on YouTube on Tuesday, particularly on any offensive videos already identified in media reports. Google has been scrambling to tighten its controls and has conducted an "extensive review" of its advertising policies in the past week.
The UK government kicked off the boycott on March 17 by pulling advertising from YouTube and summoning Google executives to cabinet to explain why government ads were appearing next to extremist material.
This followed revelations in London-based paper The Times that offensive videos spouting racist, nationalist, or extremist material were carrying advertising - and receiving revenue from - UK government agencies.
Some of the world's biggest companies have since withdrawn their ads from YouTube, including Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Verizon and Walmart.
Google apologised in a blog post and promised to review which videos were monetised. A few days later, it offered advertisers greater control over where their ads appear, but said it would not limit what appeared online.
Group general manager at Atomic 212, Claire Fenner, said organisations needed to keep up with the pace of change in the industry to fully control where their ads appeared.
"What we are seeing is a natural result of the evolution of the industry, but it's not a new issue," she said, adding there used to be similar concerns about ads appearing next to controversial press articles.
"We will never completely eliminate brand safety risks, but as long as we're collectively focused on developing and improving solutions and processes as an industry, we will continue to minimise these risks for advertisers."
Shares in Google's parent company, Alphabet, have fallen 4 per cent from $US872.37 to $US835.14 since the scandal broke.
with Lucy Battersby
