Security and online video applications have been inserting illegal advertisements on the YouTube videos of millions of Internet users. Online security website Spider.io is reporting that two programs designed to allow users to save YouTube videos exploit a browser coding issue to display unauthorised, and potentially illegal display ads.
The applications, which are Best Video Downloader and Easy YouTube Downloader, were developed by a California-based company called Sambreel. Both applications have since been discontinued, but the advertisements triggered by the tools remain a major annoyance for millions of Internet users.
‘Injected ads’, as they’re known, are an issue for millions of web users, and it’s not just the two YouTube apps listed above that trigger them. Rogue software is often used to hijack a web user’s browser and take over display ad spaces. The software then inserts advertisements from an external network and pockets the CPM fee.
The injected ads often display content from well-known brands that purchase ad space using display advertising networks. Since the ad buyers rarely know every placement on which their content is appearing, well-known companies and highly valuable brands are often taken for a ride by unethical injected ad platforms.
Regulatory groups such as the Federal Trade Commission – an American regulator dedicated to stamping out unethical behaviour by advertisers – claim that many of these ad platforms have been used to display advertisements for scams and illegal products, including diet pills and ‘home investment’ solutions.
YouTube’s official policy forbids advertisers from displaying content that’s banned by the company’s advertising editorial guidelines. The company has cracked down on unethical advertisers before by withholding payments from its Adsense display advertising network and blocking certain applications form using its services.
Sambreel did not comment on the applications, but the firm has reportedly had its software appear in the news before. The company’s applications popped up on the New York Times’ websites last year, again displaying unauthorized display ads.
