Exclusive: HSBC dragged into Times exposé of advertising on extremist sites due to British Cycling link

A British Cycling advertisement co-branded with sponsor HSBC UK resulted in the bank being included in a Times investigation highlighting how ads from major brands appear on extremist or pornographic websites without their knowledge or consent, road.cc can reveal. British Cycling says it is taking steps to ensure that such a situation cannot be repeated.

HSBC is named by The Times in its front-page lead today, entitled ‘Big Brands Fund Terror’, as being among the brands advertised on such sites and associated YouTube channels, reportedly earning their owners “tens of thousands of pounds per month.”

The article does not mention British Cycling by name. But ahead of its publication, road.cc was told that an advertisement for cycling's national governing body, including the HSBC UK logo, had appeared on an extremist website, alternative-right.blogspot.com.

We were informed that the bank was extremely unhappy with its association with the site.

The news could not come at a worse time for British Cycling, with the early stages of its backing by HSBC UK already dogged by controversy.

A much-delayed report from the independent review ordered by UK Sport into the governance of British Cycling is due to be published next month.

> Report into British Cycling delayed until March

The governing body is also subject, along with Team Sky, to an ongoing probe by UK Anti-doping.

Today’s news could therefore put strain on British Cycling’s fledgling relationship with HSBC UK, with sponsorship contracts typically containing ‘get-out’ clauses in the event of adverse publicity.

The bank took over sponsorship of the governing body from long-term backer Sky this year in a deal lasting eight years that began on 1 January.

But HSBC UK’s branding is more prominent than that of Sky in British Cycling’s marketing, being incorporated within the organisation’s logo in current ad campaigns. The bank also has naming rights to what was the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, and to the national road championships and other events.

> Manchester Velodrome becomes HSBC UK National Cycling Centre

The Times says ads from household names including Waitrose, Mercedes-Benz and Argos have appeared on websites and YouTube channels linked to supporters of extremist groups.

Those include the terrorist organisations Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, far-right groups including Combat 18, and pornographic websites.

The Times said: “Commercials for HSBC, Eurotunnel and JD Sports appear on ‘alt-right’ and Islamist websites, including one promoting a ‘Holocaust Amnesia Day’.”

It seems clear that the companies and organisations named by The Times are unwitting advertisers on the websites in question.

Some blame their advertising agencies for looking to maximise revenue while turning a blind eye to where the content is hosted.

The newspaper said that YouTube, owned by Google, had taken some extremist videos down that had advertising associated with certain brands.

Our source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told us: “There are two common ways these ads end up on extremist websites.”

He said that the first is, “Fraudulent behaviour (URL masking/forced referral on the part of the website, network or a third party that arbitrages display advertising, or the site masking its content via a series of iframes/other scripting methods.”

The other, he explained, is, “A lack of proper understanding of how to use the inbuilt protection that the advertising platform (Adwords / Network / DSP / Adserver etc) already offers.”

In layman’s terms, that means that either somewhere along line the advertising chain has been, in effect, hijacked, or that the advertiser was left vulnerable due to correct procedure not being followed, in other words it failed to target away from websites with that type of content.

He added that agencies working for large organisations such as British Cycling or HSBC would “have rigorous checks and balances and class leading technology solutions, so this must have come from another source.”

But the article in The Times points the finger at major agencies, suggesting they are more concerned about their bottom line than anything else. It says some may use what’s called ‘programmatic advertising’ to make huge profits.

You may never have heard of the term, but if, say, you’ve browsed a website for a specific brand of bike, then seen an ad for it pop up shortly afterwards on an entirely unrelated site, you’ve experienced it.

It’s clear that major advertisers are concerned by the revelations, which in part reflect a rapidly changing advertising environment in which traditional channels such as television are being supplanted by online.

The newspaper says that Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer at consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, the world’s highest spending advertiser, had expressed concerns about how the advertising industry is evolving just last week.

It quoted him as saying: “We have a media supply chain which is murky at best and fraudulent at worst. We need to clean it up.”

Labour MP Chuka Umunna, who sits on the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said he was worried by the newspaper's allegations.

He told The Times: “This is deeply disturbing. There is no doubt the social media companies could be doing far more to prevent the spread of extremist content.”

A spokesperson for British Cycling told road.cc: "'As soon as this issue came to our attention the advert was removed. We are investigating the circumstances with our media agency and will work to ensure that stringent checks are put in place so that this cannot happen again."