Home » World » Coca Cola and Unilever boycott Facebook: Zuckerberg makes concessions

Coca Cola and Unilever boycott Facebook: Zuckerberg makes concessions

Facebook had to take a lot of criticism for its casual handling of hatred and agitation. So far, the company of founder Mark Zuckerberg has hardly reacted to it. The boycott is now beginning to take effect.

Facebook is under increasing pressure due to its controversial handling of racist, inflammatory and manipulative content. The consumer goods giant Unilever announced on Friday that it would no longer be advertising US advertising on the online network and its subsidiary Instagram by the end of the year. A little later also closed Honda and finally now Coca Cola the boycott call. This means that an ad boycott against the platform that started last week is gaining a very significant influx. Unilever also commits Twitter to its measures, the Coca-Cola Company wants to go even further:

“Beginning July 1st, the Coca-Cola Company will suspend paid advertising on all social media platforms for at least 30 days,” said a statement by Coca-Cola boss James Quincey. “We will take the time to re-evaluate our advertising standards.” They also wanted to review what to expect from their social media partners to “free the platforms of hatred, violence, and inappropriate content. We’ll let them know that we expect them to be more responsible, do more, and be more transparent.” “

The announcement of the companies also made itself felt on the stock exchange: on Friday, the Twitter share fell by around seven percent, the Facebook share by around eight percent. Both Twitter and Facebook are dependent on advertising revenue. Facebook claims to have spent around $ 70 billion on advertising last year.

Facebook announces further changes

Before the announcement by the Coca-Cola Company, Mark Zuckerberg had already announced changes to Facebook, apparently to counter the allegations of the past few weeks. In the future, they want to act more against hate news and delete false reports before the US presidential election. Incorrect content that should prevent people from voting in the three days just before the November vote would be removed, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg said in Palo Alto on Friday.

In addition, standards for advertising would be raised to block derogatory and hateful messages about ethnicity, religion or sexual preferences. Zuckerberg also announced that some Facebook content that actually violates the guidelines of the social network but is relevant to news, for example due to a prominent sender, will be flanked with information in the future. “I stand against hatred and everything that incites violence,” said Zuckerberg.

Facebook has long been accused of carelessly handling controversial posts. Given the wave of US protests against racism and police violence, this criticism was flared up again recently. Other than about Twitter, the controversial contribution from Donald Trump has already blocked several times or provided information, Facebook leaves the US presidents usually grant. An exception was the use of a Nazi symbol in Trump’s political advertising. Even Facebook was too much and the company blocked the post.

Also contributing to the annoyance surrounding Facebook’s overly liberal moderation, particularly towards the US President Mark Zuckerberg essential at. In a debate about Trump’s controversial statements, the 36-year-old head of the group took the view that the tirades of the US government, which were often viewed as divisive and degrading, were covered by freedom of speech and Facebook did not have to intervene. For this, Zuckerberg even had to justify himself to his own employees.

Civil rights activists criticize dealing with agitation

The debate has long had financial implications for the multi-billion dollar social media group. Various, sometimes large, advertisers announced that they would no longer place ads on the platform for the time being. US civil rights organizations had launched the boycott call “StopHateforProfit” because of Facebook’s handling of racist, inflammatory and manipulative content and received a lot of approval for it.

In addition to the “League against Defamation” (ADL), the supporters of the campaign include the groups “ColorOfChange” (color of change), “FreePress” (free press) and “Sleeping Giants”. “Let’s send a message to Facebook: your winnings aren’t worth it, hate, intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism and to promote violence, “said a statement.

More and more participants in advertising boycott

The companies that joined the Facebook advertising boycott include the outdoor brands The North Face and Patagonia, the ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s and more recently Unilever, Honda and the Coca-Cola Company. Facebook has to do more to prevent the use of its platform for the division of America, Ben & Jerry’s justified his decision. Patagonia said Facebook had failed to spread the “hateful lies and become more dangerous Propaganda“to act on his platform.

The American outdoor retailer REI and the digital agency 360i, which looks after large customers such as Unilever, HBO or Absolut Vodka, have also stopped advertising on Facebook and called for a harder crackdown on hatred and baiting on the Internet.

.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.