Starbucks will be temporarily discontinuing paid advertising on all social media, just like a number of other companies. The coffee giant believes that there is too much space on these platforms for hate speech.
“We want to bring communities together and are against spiteful language,” the company said. “We believe that more needs to be done to create welcome and inclusive online communities. And businesses and politicians need to work together to achieve that.”
Starbucks says it will engage with social media companies and civil rights organizations to stop the spread of hate speech. The company will continue to feature on Facebook and Instagram, but will remain unpaid posts place.
Polarized Election Struggle
A few days ago, Coca-Cola also announced that it would stop advertising on social media. And Unilever specifically stops advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the United States. The Dutch-British company believes that those platforms should do much more against “division and hate speech in the polarized election struggle in the US”.
The companies’ steps coincide with the # StopHateForProfit campaign by U.S. civil rights movements. They ask companies not to place advertisements on Facebook in July. According to that campaign, Facebook allowed people to call for violence against Black Lives Matter protesters, among other things.
More than a hundred companies, including the car brand Honda and clothing brands Levi’s and Patagonia, have now responded to this call.
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