Terrorism content advertising: what sits at the floor, and what is reporting?
Part of Brand suitability
The short answer
Content made by terrorist groups, or content that praises, recruits for or funds them, sits at the brand safety floor and no brand should fund it. Reporting on terrorism is different: frameworks grade breaking attack coverage at medium risk and features at low risk. A brand policy separates the two by purpose and provenance, not by keyword.
Key takeaways
- The floor covers terrorist promotion and advocacy; breaking reports on attacks are medium risk and explainers are low risk in the legacy framework.
- YouTube and Google publisher rules both bar content that praises, promotes, recruits for or is made by terrorist groups, and both allow context such as journalism.
- Footage filmed by an attacker stays off YouTube even with news or documentary context, which makes provenance the first check on any attack coverage.
- The United States and Canada keep separate terrorism lists, and both added drug cartels in February 2025, so crime coverage now touches terrorism rules too.
How do brand safety frameworks treat terrorism content?
Terrorism has its own category in the legacy Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework, published today by the Brand Safety Institute (opens in a new tab). The World Federation of Advertisers discontinued GARM in August 2024. Its Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework is a legacy reference, not an operating standard or certification. The terrorism category is unusual because its floor is defined by advocacy rather than by subject: "Promotion and advocacy of graphic terrorist activity involving defamation, physical and/or emotional harm of individuals".
| Level | Framework wording | Example on a website |
|---|---|---|
| Floor | "Promotion and advocacy of graphic terrorist activity" | A page hosting a group's recruitment video |
| High risk | "Terrorist content requiring a viewer advisory"; "Insensitive and irresponsible treatment of terrorism/ related crimes" | A blog that replays attack footage with mocking commentary |
| Medium risk | "Breaking News or Op-Ed coverage of acts of terrorism"; "Dramatic depiction of terrorism presented in the context of entertainment" | A live report on an attack; a thriller series review |
| Low risk | "Educational, informative, scientific treatment of terrorism"; "News feature stories on the subject" | A research center's report on radicalization online |
IAB Tech Lab carries the category into its taxonomy. Terrorism (8FD8nI) is one of the Sensitive Topics in the Content Taxonomy 3.1 file (opens in a new tab). The implementation guide (opens in a new tab) asks publishers and SSPs to "strongly consider preventing the presence of" floor level content in any of its brand safety categories and, barring that, to consider "not monetizing or allowing advertising on any such content."
Is reporting on terrorism at the brand safety floor?
No. A report on an attack informs the public about a threat, its victims and the response. YouTube's advertiser friendly content guidelines (opens in a new tab) say that "if a video provides news reporting on a violent event like a terrorist attack in a journalistic context, it may be eligible for monetization." The same guidelines list "Non-violent or brief references to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs)" and "Educational content or journalistic reporting" about them among content that can earn ad revenue, while "Glorification, denialism, recruitment, or graphic portrayal" of those groups earns none.
Definition
- Terrorist content
- Material produced by a terrorist or violent extremist group, or made to praise, promote, recruit for or fund one. Reporting, research and commentary about terrorism are not terrorist content, even when they name a group or show its symbols in context.
How do platforms define violent extremist content?
On YouTube, the violent extremist or criminal organizations policy (opens in a new tab) says "Content intended to praise, promote, or aid violent extremist or criminal organizations is not allowed" and that these organizations may not use YouTube "for any purpose, including recruitment." YouTube says it relies on factors including "government and international organization designations". On the open web, Google Publisher Policies (opens in a new tab) bar ads on "content made by or in support of terrorist groups" and content "that promotes terrorist acts, including recruitment, or that celebrates attacks".
| YouTube example (its wording) | What a buyer checks on a site or channel |
|---|---|
| "Raw and unmodified reuploads of content created by terrorist, criminal, or extremist organizations" | Embedded group videos with no reporting around them |
| "Footage filmed by the perpetrator during a deadly or major violent event" | Attack video credited to the attacker, even on news pages |
| "Links to external sites that contain manifestos of violent attackers" | Manifesto links or full text reposted |
| "Fundraising for violent criminal, extremist, or terrorist organizations" | Donation buttons for armed groups or their fronts |
| "Celebrating terrorist leaders or their crimes in songs or memorials" | Tribute pages, anthems and anniversaries framed as celebration |
How do you review coverage of an attack?
Attack coverage moves fast and can mix careful reporting with reposted propaganda. A short review routine, run on each news site that stays on the plan, keeps decisions consistent. The steps below are a starting point for a brand to adapt, not an industry standard.
Reviewing attack coverage on an approved news site
- Check provenance first. Remove pages that embed footage filmed by the attacker or by the group claiming the attack.
- Look for manifesto material. Remove pages that link to or reprint an attacker's manifesto beyond short quoted lines in reporting.
- Read the framing. Keep reports that explain the threat, the victims and the response; send pages that dwell on the attacker's image or methods to a person.
- Check the comments and related links. Floor material can sit below a sound article, in comments or recommendation boxes.
- Log the outcome. Record each page removed, the reason and the date, so the same call is made on the next attack.
Signs an attack story is reporting, not promotion
- Facts are attributed to police, officials or named witnesses.
- The group's claims are reported as claims, not repeated as slogans.
- Victims are named with care and shown with dignity, if at all.
- No recruitment message, donation link or manifesto text appears on the page.
- Images show the scene and responders, not the attack in progress.
What should a brand policy say about extremism?
A policy should name its reference lists, because they differ by country. In the United States, Foreign Terrorist Organizations are "designated by the Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act", according to the State Department's list (opens in a new tab). In Canada, Public Safety Canada (opens in a new tab) describes listing as "a public means of identifying a group or individual as being associated with terrorism." Both lists changed in the same week: the State Department shows several cartels and gangs designated on February 20, 2025, and Canada's current list (opens in a new tab) records seven such entities added that day, among them Cartel de Sinaloa and Tren de Aragua.
That change matters for planners. A crime story about a cartel can now fall inside terrorism rules on either side of the border, so a policy that blocks all mentions of a listed group would remove local crime and border reporting. The fix is the same as for any sensitive category: define the floor by treatment and provenance, and set a tolerance for reporting.
Clauses an extremism section of a brand policy should contain
- The floor: content made by, praising, recruiting for or fundraising for listed or violent extremist groups is not funded.
- The reference lists used, such as the US Foreign Terrorist Organizations list and Canada's listed entities, with the date last checked.
- The tolerance for breaking attack coverage, for features and for research, stated as tiers.
- A provenance rule: pages embedding attacker or group made footage are excluded whatever the publisher.
- Who decides during a live attack, and how decisions are logged.
What does a terrorism policy look like for a shopping center operator?
Fictional example
A shopping center operator in Tennessee and Kentucky
A fictional operator of shopping centers in Nashville, Louisville and Lexington runs a holiday campaign on regional news, family and lifestyle sites. Its marketing team worries about appearing beside coverage of attacks on crowded public places, which sits close to its own business, and its agency's default list blocked the word terrorism and the names of several groups.
The team writes an extremism section: the floor as written in its policy, breaking attack coverage accepted only on approved news sites, features and research accepted, and every page with attacker footage excluded. When an attack at a crowded venue in another state leads the news, the agency runs the review routine on each approved news site and removes two pages, one embedding the attacker's video and one quoting a manifesto at length. The holiday creative with crowd scenes is paused for the week, while store hours messages keep running.
How does PlacementGraph separate terrorism coverage from terrorist content?
Frequently asked questions
Does naming a terrorist group make an article unsafe?
No. YouTube's guidelines treat non-violent or brief references to foreign terrorist organizations, and journalistic reporting about them, as content that can earn ad revenue. What moves a page toward the floor is promotion, recruitment, group made footage or celebration of an attack, not the presence of a name.
Are extremism research and counter-terrorism sites safe to fund?
In the legacy framework they match the low risk description, "Educational, informative, scientific treatment of terrorism". Check that research pages describe propaganda rather than reproduce it in full, since a reposted recruitment video is floor material wherever it appears.
Should fiction and films about terrorism be treated like news?
No. The framework places "Dramatic depiction of terrorism presented in the context of entertainment" at medium risk, a separate line from news. A brand can accept thriller reviews and streaming guides while holding breaking attack coverage, or the reverse, as long as the policy states both.
Are US and Canadian terrorism lists the same?
No. Different governments keep them under different laws, on their own schedules. The State Department revoked the designation of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham on July 8, 2025, while Public Safety Canada records removing it in December 2025. A policy should name both lists and the date each was checked.
Sources
- Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework (opens in a new tab)Brand Safety Institute
- WFA discontinues GARM (opens in a new tab)World Federation of Advertisers, August 9, 2024
- Content Taxonomy 3.1 (TSV) (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- Taxonomies implementation guide (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- Advertiser friendly content guidelines (opens in a new tab)YouTube Help
- Violent extremist or criminal organizations policy (opens in a new tab)YouTube Help
- Violent or graphic content policies (opens in a new tab)YouTube Help
- Google Publisher Policies (opens in a new tab)Google Publisher Policies Help
- Foreign Terrorist Organizations (opens in a new tab)US Department of State, Bureau of Counterterrorism
- Listed Terrorist Entities (opens in a new tab)Public Safety Canada
- Currently listed entities (opens in a new tab)Public Safety Canada
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.