Google suspends ads from Atlanta influencer recruiting Iranians for Mossad

Google confirmed by email that it has suspended the account of Desi Banks Productions LLC for violations of advertising policies and deleted the Mossad recruitment ads from its transparency portal.

This article was originally published by All-Source Intelligence.

The Mountain View-based advertising and technology giant Google confirmed on Tuesday that it has suspended the advertising account of the Atlanta-based comedian Desi T. Banks Jr., Desi Banks Productions LLC, following exposure of a months-long, international ad campaign attempting to recruit family members of Iranian government officials as agents of Israel’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad.

The statement from a Google spokesperson came in response to an inquiry regarding the disappearance from the company’s ad transparency portal of numerous Mossad recruitment ads registered to Desi Banks Productions LLC, via the advertising identifier AR17833689873626693633. The company further stated that the deletion of the Mossad recruitment ads from its transparency portal is standard procedure for suspended accounts but would not clarify which policy or policies had been violated.

The international advertising-based espionage campaign — closely affiliated with the still-active “Blue Message” Telegram channel, X.com account, and Google recruitment form — were first exposed by this publication in September and frequently made use of deceptive, bait-and-switch appeals to child safety advice, further tagging several of its ads as related to beauty products. Other ads were overtly targeted at the recruitment of LGBTQ Iranians and spanned numerous European countries — including Germany, France, and the Netherlands — as well as the United States.

The suspension of the Banks-affiliated advertising account closely follows an investigation published on Monday by the American investigative outlet The Grayzone, regarding a recent wave of ads published by Banks’s production company which purported to recruit Mossad agents in relation to the recent wave of protests in Iran. One of the ads, an apparently AI-generated video of an Iranian protestor sitting in the middle of a smoke-filled street as tens of motorcycles approach him, is currently contained in the pinned post of the Blue Message campaign’s X.com account.

The author attempted to attend an afterparty in Philadelphia on Sunday for Banks’s ongoing “Your Fav Cousin” stand-up comedy tour, but the venue, NOTO Philadelphia, stated by phone on Sunday that the event was cancelled due to a low number of ticket sales. By contrast, Banks’s stand-up performance at Punch Line Philadelphia on Sunday was listed as sold-out.

Desi Banks did not respond to repeated requests for comment through his agent and instead stated on X.com on Tuesday that, “When things are going good for you trust me the enemy do things to try an [sic] distract you and steal your joy to knock you off your Pivot,” adding that, “Life can throw you crazy things that you don’t know or understand, just stay focused and Lean Not on your Own Understanding.”

“When you get outed as a Mossad collaborator, just post through it king,” replied the X.com account Antiques Roadhead (@RealDanRather).

The editor of The Grayzone, Max Blumenthal, further replied to Banks, stating, “Desi, we have been trying to reach you for comment on our report about your LLC being used to buy ads for the Israeli Mossad assassination agency.” “Google suspended your account today for ‘egregious’ violations; It’s time to explain what’s happening here,” Blumenthal implored.

As of publication, Banks has not responded.