After more than 90 advertisers join the boycott Facebook campaign, Facebook says it will start to label potentially harmful posts, that it leaves up due to their news value, as ‘problematic’.
This campaign called the “Stop Hate for Profit”, was started by US civil rights groups after the death of George Floyd under police custody, in May 2020.
This approach comes as Facebook’s faces pressure to improve its method of moderating the content on its platform. These include posts by the United States President Donald Trump.
Companies that joined the boycott include Unilever, the maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The consumer goods company Unilever stated ‘polarized election period’ in the US as their reason for boycotting Facebook advertising.
The maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream said they will pause advertising on Facebook-owned social media platforms in the US “at least” through 2020.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook, defended his company’s record of taking down hate speech. He also said that the company was working on tightening its policies to “address the reality of the challenges our country is facing and how they’re showing up across our community”.
Zuckerberg further explained that Facebook would ban advertisements that describe different groups, based on categories such as race or immigration status, as a threat.
Facebook will also remove content from politicians if it determines that their posts incite violence or suppress voting.
On Friday shares of Facebook and Twitter fell more than 7% as some boycott organizers stated that Mr Zuckerberg’s promises did not go far enough.