People wear protective face masks outside of Starbucks in downtown as the city moves to Phase 2 reopening after restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic on June 23, 2020 in New York City .
Noam Galai | fake pictures
Starbucks is the latest company to say it will stop advertising on “all social media platforms” and promises to have discussions internally and with media partners and civil rights organizations to stop the spread of hate speech. The company will continue to post on social media without paid promotion, it announced Sunday.
“We believe in uniting communities, both in person and online, and we are against hate speech,” the company said in a statement Sunday. “We believe that more must be done to create welcoming and inclusive online communities, and we believe that both business leaders and policy makers must come together to bring about real change.”
Starbucks is the last major advertiser to make such an announcement amid a boycott that started with Facebook but is now affecting other social media platforms. Coca Cola also said on Friday that it would pause advertising on all social media platforms worldwide, while Unilever will stop advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the United States until December 31. On Saturday, spirit giant Diageo said it will pause paid advertising worldwide. on the “main social media platforms” from July. A Starbucks spokesman said this break on social media will not include YouTube, which is owned by Google.
Starbucks said that while it is pausing advertising, it is not joining the #StopHateForProfit boycott campaign, which started earlier this month.
After a group of organizations called Facebook advertisers to stop their ad spending during the month of July, more than 100 vendors, including Levi’s, Patagonia, REI, Lending Club and The North Face, announced their intention to join, according to an updated list of Sleeping Giants The group of organizations includes the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Color of Change, Free Press and Common Sense, which have asked “big Facebook advertisers to prove that they will not support a company that puts profit above safety. ”
The organizations said they are asking Facebook to more tightly control hate speech and disinformation by taking a series of actions, including creating a “separate moderation channel” for users who say they have been targeted for their race. or religion, or to allow advertisers to see how often their ads appear near content that was later removed for misinformation or hate, and allow them refunds for those ads.
Last year, Facebook generated $ 69.7 billion in advertising revenue globally through its millions of advertisers.
CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.
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