(Bloomberg) – Shares of Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. fell on Friday after Unilever, one of the world’s largest advertisers, said it would stop all U.S. advertising on both platforms, fueling concern for that other large consumer brands can do the same.
Unilever, which owns names like Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Ax shower gel and has an annual advertising budget of nearly $ 8 billion, said it will not be announced on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram owned by Facebook for the rest of the year due to hate speech and polarized politics that users often post.
“Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society,” Unilever said in an emailed statement. “We will be monitoring in progress and will revisit our current position if necessary.”
Facebook shares extended a decline after the news. The stock was down 4.6% the previous Friday, then fell 8.3% to $ 216.08 at the close. Twitter shares fell 7.4% to $ 29.05.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg responded Friday to mounting criticism of misinformation on the site, announcing that the company would tag all voting-related posts with a link that encourages users to check out its new hub. electoral information and expanded its definition of prohibited hate speech for advertising.
Unilever’s decision follows similar moves from a growing list of high-profile consumer companies, including outdoor equipment company Patagonia and Verizon Communications Inc., which claim that technology platforms, particularly Facebook, benefit from the publications of the users who promote hate and spread misinformation.
A civil rights consortium and other advocacy groups, including Color of Change and the Anti-Defamation League, have asked advertisers to stop spending on Facebook-owned platforms during the month of July to protest against the company’s policies. The U.S. unit of Honda Motor Co. said on Friday it would join the boycott and suspend advertising on Facebook and Instagram in July. Unilever’s pledge extends that promise until 2020, adding rival social network Twitter to the mix, which has also struggled to deal with offensive posts, but has recently taken a more active stance than Facebook in some cases related to the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
More marks joined the fray as the day progressed. Coca-Cola Co. said it will stop paid advertising on all social media for at least 30 days. Hershey Co. intends to stop Facebook spending in July, according to Business Insider.
So far, boycott organizers say more than 100 companies participate.
“We invest billions of dollars each year to keep our community safe and continually work with outside experts to review and update our policies,” a Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement, adding that the company has banned 250 white supremacist organizations. of their platforms. “We know we have more work to do, and we will continue to work with civil rights groups, GARM, and other experts to develop even more tools, technology, and policies to continue this fight.”
Facebook has had a difficult relationship with civil rights groups for years, which have struggled to diversify Facebook’s board of directors, accused the company of allowing voter suppression tactics, and opposed Facebook’s decision to name the Daily Caller, a right-wing media outlet with ties to white nationalism, as one of its formal fact-checking partners in 2019.
The frustrations were renewed after Zuckerberg said a series of Trump posts on race-related protests did not constitute a violation of company rules. In a past month, Trump said “when the looting begins, the shooting begins,” a post that was flagged on Twitter as a rape, but not on Facebook. Several disgruntled Facebook employees staged a strike to protest the decision.
As the boycott has grown over the past week, Facebook has reached out to advertisers to share details about the company’s existing policies and its efforts to automate signaling and elimination of hate speech on its service. He has also been highlighting his work to increase voter registration, and on Friday Zuckerberg said the company would now ban ads targeting certain races or ethnic groups as dangerous. In an email to sellers this week, the company said it bases its policies on principles, not business interests.
Twitter, which has not been the target of the formal ad boycott, but has faced similar criticism of Facebook over the years, says Unilever reached out to alert the company of its decision before making the announcement publicly.
“Our mission is to serve the public conversation and ensure that Twitter is a place where people can establish human connections, seek and receive authentic and credible information, and express themselves freely and securely,” said Sarah Personette, vice president of global solutions for Twitter clients, in one sentence. “We are respectful of our partners’ decisions and will continue to work and communicate closely with them during this time.”
(Updates with Coca-Cola and Hershey in the eighth paragraph).
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