BuzzFeed has deleted more posts than some smaller websites likely publish in an entire year.

The online publisher revealed the results of an internal review this week, which found that it has deleted 1,112 posts for reasons ranging from technical errors (263 deleted posts) to duplicated work (122 deleted posts) and copyright issues (65 deleted posts). Yet, it's the smallest number that is attracting the most controversy: three. That's how many posts BuzzFeed admits it deleted over "advertiser complaints."

See also: BuzzFeed writer resigns after controversy over deleted post

The internal review's findings again spotlight the issue of how a young publication for all things viral — one with arguably a lower bar for publishing and un-publishing content — transitions to becoming a true news organization, including all the editorial standards that brings. It also raises the question of how online publishers navigate relationships with advertisers, which form the bulk of their revenue.

Ben Smith, who took over as BuzzFeed's editor-in-chief three years ago, explained in a memo first obtained by Gawker that two of the three posts deleted for advertising reasons had effectively muddled the lines between editorial and the brand in question.

On March 5, 2013, an editorial staffer published an article ridiculing Microsoft's Internet Explorer, despite having previously worked on an ad campaign for Microsoft in a previous role at BuzzFeed. That led to a complaint from BuzzFeed's chief revenue officer, and the post was ultimately taken down.

The following January 2014, BuzzFeed editorial again dealt with blowback from its business side, after a writer criticized Pepsi's Twitter marketing at a time when the publication was producing Twitter content for Pepsi tied to the Super Bowl.

"We’d never previously considered the case of an editor would be writing about an ad that was produced by our creative team, but we decided it was inappropriate and deleted the post," Smith explained in the memo, which was sent to staff on Saturday.

The third case had to do with Mark Duffy, BuzzFeed's former ad critic who seemingly accused deodorant brand Axe of "worldwide mass rape." An advertising agency complained, the post was pulled and Duffy was later fired from BuzzFeed.

"He made me delete it one month after it was posted, due to apparent pressure from Axe's owner Unilever. How that's for editorial integrity?" Duffy wrote in a post after leaving BuzzFeed. "Ben Smith also questioned other posts I did knocking major advertisers' ads (he kept repeating the phrase 'punching down')."

In Saturday's memo, Smith attempted to frame the findings about posts deleted over advertising pressure in a positive light.

"I’m also frankly relieved that the review didn’t turn up any external pressures or advertiser contacts that I didn’t know about," he wrote. "And amid all this conversation about church and state, I do want to make one thing clear: We expect you to write and make decisions independently of our advertisers and our sales side."

The report comes a little more than a week after it was revealed that BuzzFeed had quietly deleted two posts critical of Dove and Monopoly. They were later restored, but not before some outlets accused BuzzFeed of pulling posts for portraying sponsors negatively.

Smith denied those allegations, explaining that they were removed for being personal opinions, but then admitted he had handled the situation poorly.

"I blew it," Smith wrote in an email to staff earlier this month. "Twice in the last couple of months, I've asked editors — over their better judgment and without any respect to our standards or process — to delete recently publish posts from the site."

To make matters worse, BuzzFeed implemented a new set of editorial guidelines at the beginning of this year precisely to prevent these issues from happening: "Editorial posts should never be deleted for reasons related to their content, or because a subject or stakeholder has asked you to do so."