Some of the world’s biggest brands are advertising on YouTube videos showing scantily clad children that have attracted comments from hundreds of paedophiles, The Times can reveal.

BT, Adidas, Deutsche Bank, eBay, Amazon, Mars, Diageo and Talktalk are among dozens of brands whose adverts appear on the videos, which are published on the Google-owned platform. Many have gained millions of views by showing young girls filming themselves in underwear, doing the splits, brushing their teeth or rolling around in bed.

Most appear to have been posted by innocent children. Paedophiles flock to such content, however, by searching for certain keywords in Russian that can bring up hundreds of young Slavic girls.

YouTube’s algorithms then suggest similar clips — including one showing naked toddlers in a bath.…