YouTube reaches out to advertisers as AT&T, Hasbro halt spending

FILE PHOTO: YouTube unveils their new paid subscription service at the YouTube Space LA in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, California, United States October 21, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

Alphabet Inc’s Google went into damage-control mode after a raft of major advertisers stopped spending money on YouTube over concerns that the video-sharing site can be used to forge networks of people engaged in exploitation of children. 

Google executives held a call with representatives of major advertisers and ad agencies and sent them a memo to assure them that the company had deleted predatory accounts and was working to build new tools to weed out commenters who try to sexualize videos featuring children, according to people familiar with the situation.