The Coca Cola company (KO) – Get report He said Friday that he will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms for at least 30 days.
The move comes amid a growing Facebook boycott (full board) – Get report for failing to take action against incendiary content, including the posts of President Donald Trump.
“The Coca-Cola Company will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms worldwide for at least 30 days,” said James Quincey, president and CEO of the soda giant in a statement. “We will take this time to reevaluate our advertising standards and policies to determine if revisions are necessary internally and what else can we expect from our social media partners to eliminate hate, violence and inappropriate content platforms.”
Friday consumer giant Unilever (UL) – Get report He joined the boycott launched by the NAACP and other organizations, helping to send Facebook shares down more than 8%. Procter & Gamble (PG) – Get report He said earlier this week that he was considering a similar retreat.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to appease advertisers on Friday, announcing changes to Facebook’s content policies.
Zuckerberg has previously argued that Facebook “shouldn’t be the arbiter of the truth of everything people say online.”
However, in recent weeks, social media companies have faced tough decisions, stemming from the Black Lives Matter protests and in dealing with Trump’s content.
Twitter flagged two tweets from Trump last month for spreading lies about voting by mail, a practice Trump claims can lead to fraud, even though he himself votes by mail.
Trump responded with an executive order seeking to rescind laws to protect online companies from liability for content posted by people who use their platforms.
Facebook itself recently removed ads from the Trump campaign that used a symbol from the Nazi death camp.
Coca-Cola spends around $ 4 billion a year on advertising worldwide, according to its latest annual report.
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