Dive Brief:

• Although BuzzFeed contended last week that two recently deleted posts were not due to advertising pressure, new information revealed that other articles have been deleted for that reason in the past. 
• An internal review identified three instances in which ad posts were removed due to advertisers' complaints or pressure. 
• BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith said in a memo to staff that the three advertiser-related deletions involved Unilever-owned Axe, Microsoft, and Pepsi.

Dive Insight:

Due to the review, BuzzFeed instituted a new policy to prevent writers who move to the editorial department from the business side from writing about brands from the business side to write about brands they worked with in the prior six months. A Microsoft ad—one of the three admittedly removed for advertiser pressure—was deleted because the author had just written a campaign for the company.