Updated June 27, 2020, 1:29 p.m.
Coca Cola, Unilever and Honda: Several international companies have announced an advertising boycott against Facebook and other social networks. The companies want to protest against the spread of hate and violent contributions there. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has now responded.
As a sign against racism, several international companies want to boycott the large online networks. For example, Coca Cola no longer wants to place advertisements for at least 30 days.
“There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism in social networks,” said Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey on Friday. Online networks should show more “transparency and responsibility”, he demanded.
List of boycotting companies is getting longer
The British-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever even announced that it would no longer advertise in the United States by the end of the year because of the US presidential election in November FacebookTo make Instagram and Twitter.
“The polarized atmosphere places an increased responsibility on brands to build a trustworthy and secure digital ecosystem,” the company wrote in justification Twitter. The advertising waiver applies immediately.
This keeps the list of boycotting companies growing. Also Honda, the US telecommunications group Verizon and the sporting goods manufacturers Patagonia and North Face want to put their advertising on Facebook.
This was preceded by a call to boycott the Anti-Defamation League organization as part of a campaign under the motto “Stop hatred from profit”.
Facebook responds to criticism
Facebook has now responded to the ongoing criticism: The social network is expanding its approach against hate messages and wants to mark problematic posts by politicians in the future. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday that from now on a larger range of paid advertisements – including election campaigns – would be prohibited.
According to Zuckerberg, claims that people of a certain “race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity or a certain immigration statute pose a threat to physical security, health or the survival of others” are prohibited.
“Immigrants, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers” should also be protected from advertisements that they consider inferior or contemptible.
Facebook also wants to mark messages from politicians in certain cases if they violate the rules of the network, as Zuckerberg writes. “A few times a year, we leave content that would otherwise violate our rules if the public interest is greater than the risk of harm.”
This is the case, for example, with politician speeches that have news value. In the future, it should be pointed out if such content violates the Facebook rules. The content is marked accordingly, but not removed.
Messages of violence and hate should now be deleted
Zuckerberg emphasized that there are no exceptions if messages could lead to violence or oppression of the right to vote. Such content would be deleted. The Facebook boss referred to the election campaign for the US presidential election in November, which is likely to be particularly “heated”.
In the past few weeks, posts by US President Donald Trump have caused a stir. The short message service Twitter Repeatedly hid right-wing populist’s tweets behind a warning about “glorifying violence” or “abusive behavior”.
Twitter also subjected the President’s statements to a fact check. Facebook, on the other hand, did not take any such measures, was much criticized for it – and is now apparently giving in.
However, more and more companies are refraining from advertising on Facebook because, from their point of view, the internet giant is doing too little against hate comments and calls for violence. (afp / mf)
The company said it was threatening violence against a clearly identifiable group.
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