Industry and Technology Committee on June 18th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Ms. Begum, I'm afraid we are quite a bit over the time. Thank you very much.

Mr. Ste‑Marie, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon to my colleagues.

Good afternoon, Ms. Patell. Thank you for being here.

Let me start with a specific case. Three weeks ago, my assistant Marc‑André saw a fake YouTube ad in which a fake Mark Carney was telling people to make investments. The ad was similar to the one that led to a class action lawsuit a year ago. We are still seeing fake ads like this a year later.

My assistant took a screenshot and sent it to YouTube to tell them to be careful, that it was a fraudulent ad that should be taken down. He received no acknowledgement or feedback from YouTube, and the fraudulent advertising continued for days. Is that what you call being proactive against fraudulent advertising?

[Jeanette Patell]

Thank you for the question. That is obviously a very serious situation. I will answer in English, just to be more specific.

I'm not familiar with this particular situation. It sounds as though this is something we should be exploring to understand exactly what took place. I'm happy to work with your office to understand that more clearly.

In these cases, we want to see ads reported, and we have a reporting mechanism for ads that will allow us to understand the ad identifier associated with it, so that we can trace it back. When things like this happen—this is a public figure endorsement scam—we absolutely want to be acting rapidly on them. I'm happy to work with your office to understand the situation and how we can be better in responding to it.

As I said, this is a trend that we've observed in the ecosystem. We have been sharpening our detection tools, but it sounds to me like this was able to get through, and we want to be able to action that rapidly.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you.

It's not just about a specific case, but about the mechanism in general. It was the same thing with Meta. Witnesses told us that when they reported fraudulent advertising, it took several days for any follow-up. Earlier, you answered by saying that these were hypothetical questions. This is a specific case, and this kind of thing happens often. So you have to put mechanisms in place to remove those ads immediately.

I want to ask you another question: In Canada, what percentage of YouTube's ad revenues come from fraudulent ads and scams? Do you have that percentage?

[Jeanette Patell]

Maybe this is where the business practices and the way our businesses are built might differ from others. I apologize for going into a bit more detail than you might prefer.

Our systems operate such that, when we recognize revenue or generate revenue on an ad, it is generally called a cost-per-click model. What that means is that a user has to interact with that ad before we are paid for that ad. We're not paid in a pre-impression manner. That means that, when I say that our systems have been able to block 99% of problematic ads before they're ever served to a user, we are recognizing zero revenue on those ads. It means that we are not taking money from those fraudsters, because we do not want their money. We do not want an ecosystem to be polluted by that type of activity, because it undermines our entire mission.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you.

What you're saying is that your platforms like YouTube are running fraudulent ads featuring a fake Mark Carney. One person lost $30,000 because of that, and you're saying you're not even making money on it. Wouldn't it therefore be urgent to block all those ads?

Along the same lines, why do the advertisers who post these ads on YouTube and your other platforms continue to appear in your ads and your results, even when they have been identified as fraudulent by Quebec's securities regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, for example?

[Jeanette Patell]

Obviously, this is a real challenge. It's a shared challenge. I would say to you that we're on the same side in this challenge; we are partners in tackling this.

We have been working very hard to sharpen the detection of these types of scams to be able to prevent them from abusing our systems. When it comes to things like public figures, for example, on YouTube, we have developed the likeness detection tool. This tool would allow a public figure to approve or deny the use of their image in content or in advertisements. This is one of the ways that we built products to be able to respond to the threat. The reality is that we're dealing with criminals who are constantly working to circumvent the protections we're putting in place.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you for your answer, but let me clarify my question.

In Quebec, the Autorité des marchés financiers or the Office de la protection du consommateur have ordered that those ads be removed. Will you commit to immediately complying with those orders, even without a court decision?

[Jeanette Patell]

I'm not familiar with that particular situation, so I'll have to defer the question, but I'm happy to come back to you once I have a better understanding of the scenario that you're talking about and what authorities are in question.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Could you provide an answer in writing? That is required under a law that came into force in Quebec last week. We would appreciate a written response.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thank you, Mr. Ste‑Marie.

Mr. Falk, I understand you'll be splitting your time with Ms. Borrelli. I'll let the two of you sort that out, but there are five minutes between you.

The floor is yours.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and that's correct.

Thanks, Ms. Patell, for your testimony here at committee today.

I have a few questions for you.

On a point of clarification, from the time that you become aware of a fraudulent ad or a scam, how long does it take for you to remove that from your sites?

[Jeanette Patell]

I think the answer is that it depends. When you look at the kind of scope, breadth of activity and surfaces that would be in play for that question, it would really depend on where and when. We act as rapidly as possible, not only to pull down a problematic piece of content or ad or to identify a malicious site, for example, but also—

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Is there any data you could provide as to how quickly, once you become aware of something, it's removed from your platforms?

[Jeanette Patell]

It really depends on the type of data. I'm happy to explore what we would be able to provide you in that space. I also want to underline that our efforts are to work not only as rapidly as possible but also as effectively as possible.

Through the Global Signal Exchange, we've been able to scale that response, so we're not only hardening and protecting our systems but also amplifying that globally so that other providers are also able to identify the scam and prevent abuse of their systems.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Banks have, in many cases, taken responsibility when their customers or clients have been defrauded. What level of responsibility has Google taken when your customers have been defrauded because of a scam that's on your platform?

[Jeanette Patell]

As I've said, there's a very human cost to criminal activity.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Do you ever reimburse somebody for the losses they've incurred?

[Jeanette Patell]

We are very clear on the role that we need to play here in terms of protecting our systems, protecting our users—

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

It's just a yes or a no. Do you ever reimburse any of your clients for the losses they've incurred because of a scam that's been on your platform?

[Jeanette Patell]

There's a lot more complexity than [Inaudible—Editor].

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

It's a no. The answer is no. You don't assume any responsibility.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Ms. Patell and Mr. Falk, I will ask for one second, because we need to make sure that Ms. Patell's mic is on. Mr. Falk, I've paused the clock, so you need not worry.

I'm going to let Mr. Falk repeat that question, and we'll make sure that your mic is working, Ms. Patell.

Mr. Falk, you may go ahead.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Ms. Patell, you won't take any responsibility for the losses incurred by customers using your platform from scams on your platform.

[Jeanette Patell]

We take an incredible amount of responsibility in hardening our systems—