Google to overhaul advertising policies after growing boycott

'We deeply apologise,' says company's CBO Philipp Schindler as he announces tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory content

Google has promised a wide-ranging overhaul of its advertising policies in response to a growing boycott of the company's platforms from leading brands and advertisers including the UK government, Marks & Spencer and McDonald's.

In a blogpost published on Monday night, Philipp Schindler, the company's chief business officer, wrote: "We have strict policies that define where Google ads should appear, and in the vast majority of cases, our policies and tools work as intended. But at times we don't get it right.