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Google said in September 2022 that it had taken additional steps to stop ads appearing on Russian state-owned websites that regularly published Ukraine-war propaganda. The company said it reviewed the sites identified publicly and enforced its policies against them—but it did not publish a complete list of the domains removed. That means the announcement described action against identified sites, not a verifiable ban on every Russian disinformation website across Google’s ad network.
What Google said it did
On September 1, 2022, CyberScoop reported that Google had taken additional steps the previous week after major Western brands’ ads appeared beside Russian disinformation headlines. Google said it had reviewed the sites in question and taken enforcement action. The company also said it continued monitoring for new actors.
The report followed an August 24, 2022 thread by Singapore-based software developer Braedon Vickers, who posted screenshots showing Google-served ads alongside the headlines. The screenshots included ads from brands such as Adidas, Citibank and Lumen. They demonstrated that ads had appeared on the sites shown; they did not establish how often this happened or the full reach of the problem.
Google did not disclose a complete list of the sites it acted against. CyberScoop also reported concerns that enforcement could apply to individual articles rather than excluding an entire site, and that similar cases could surface after a site was reported. The public record therefore does not establish a comprehensive, independently verified site-wide cutoff.
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Why brand ads appeared beside propaganda
Google’s display advertising system uses automated buying and placement across publisher sites. At that scale, an advertiser’s campaign can appear on a page without the brand choosing that specific page. If a site remains eligible to sell inventory, automated placements can put familiar brands beside material those advertisers would reject if they saw it in advance.
CyberScoop described Google as the dominant programmatic ad-tech company by site reach. Vickers said that 99.8% of nearly one million sites he tracked authorized at least one Google account to sell inventory. That figure was his reported finding, not an independently established measure of all sites in Google’s network.
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The issue was not only reputational. Ad placements can provide publishers with revenue, while the presence of a recognizable advertiser can lend a propaganda outlet an appearance of legitimacy. Lumen said its ad should not have appeared on a flagged website and that it proactively turned off all Google Display campaigns until it had confidence in the safeguards. Sen. Ron Wyden criticized Google over ads appearing on Russian websites that could funnel money to Russian companies, saying the company either was not honoring its promises or did not know where it was selling ads.
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Google’s Sensitive Events policy says it pauses ads containing content that exploits, dismisses or condones the war in Ukraine. The policy also says Google pauses ads on its properties and networks globally for advertisers based in Russia, and pauses ads from and for Russian Federation state-funded media.
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These measures addressed different parts of the advertising system: ads promoting prohibited content, advertising by Russian-based advertisers, and monetization of Russian state-funded media. They do not, on their face, prove that every site publishing disinformation was excluded from the network. A site’s ownership, funding, content and eligibility for advertising are related but distinct questions.
Google’s actions after Russia invaded Ukraine
Google announced several measures in February and March 2022. The scope changed over time; the measures should not be treated as a single blanket ban on all Russian websites.
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| Date | Reported action | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| February 26, 2022 | Axios reported that Google was pausing monetization of Russian state-funded media across its platforms, including blocking Russian state-media channels from selling YouTube ads. | State-funded media monetization |
| March 4, 2022 | Axios reported that Google suspended all advertising in Russia across Search, YouTube and outside publishing partners. | Advertising in Russia, broader than the state-media measure |
| August 24, 2022 | Braedon Vickers posted screenshots of Western-brand ads beside Russian disinformation headlines. | Public evidence of placements on identified pages |
| September 1, 2022 | CyberScoop reported Google’s statement that it had reviewed the identified sites and taken additional enforcement action. | Action against identified sites; no complete domain list published |
What Google’s enforcement reports show—and what they do not
Google’s Ads Safety Reports describe large-scale enforcement across its advertising systems. The figures below are company-reported global totals, not counts of Russian websites removed or a measurement of the September incident.
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| Measure | Google’s 2021 report | Google’s 2022 report |
|---|---|---|
| Ads removed | 3.4 billion | 5.2 billion |
| Ads restricted | 5.7 billion | 4.3 billion |
| Advertiser accounts suspended | 5.6 million | 6.7 million |
| Publisher pages with ads blocked or restricted | 1.7 billion | Over 1.5 billion |
| Ukraine-war-related ads blocked | More than 8 million | More than 17 million |
| State-funded media sites with ads removed | More than 60 | More than 275 |
| Publisher sites with broader site-level enforcement | Approximately 63,000 | Not stated in the cited report summary |
The figures come from Google’s 2021 Ads Safety Report and 2022 Ads Safety Report. They show that Google reported substantial enforcement, including actions relating to Ukraine and state-funded media. They do not identify which Russian domains were removed in response to Vickers’ screenshots, show whether each action applied to a whole site, or independently confirm that all problematic inventory was excluded.
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How to interpret the claim that Google “cut off” the sites
“Cut off” is accurate only in the limited sense that Google said it enforced against the specific sites it reviewed. The available reporting does not support reading it as proof of a permanent, universal ban covering every Russian disinformation site, every page on those sites, or every route by which an ad might reach Russian inventory.
For advertisers, the episode illustrates the limits of relying on automated brand-safety controls alone. Campaign settings and exclusions can reduce unwanted placements, but the public information about this incident does not establish that any particular control would have prevented every placement. Google’s response also left an accountability gap: without a published domain list or a complete independent audit, outsiders could not verify the scope or completeness of the removals.
That gap was central to criticism from advertisers and watchdogs. Check My Ads Institute co-founder Claire Atkin argued that advertising revenue, trusted-brand adjacency and data could help propaganda thrive. Her statement was a critique of the ad system’s effects, not a finding that each advertiser knowingly funded a specific outlet.
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