As pressure mounts on Facebook and Instagram to improve police hate speech, The Walt Disney Company has joined an advertising boycott.
According to DeadlineBruce Haring, the company is “cutting” its advertising spending on social media. Pathmatics Inc. estimates name Disney as the top Facebook advertiser for the first half of 2020, so this move can have a big impact.
The report claims that the majority of the ads on Facebook went to Disney +, on which the company had spent around $ 210 million so far, and other divisions possibly did the same. Disney also reportedly removed all of its Instagram advertising for Hulu. Pathmatics has said that $ 16 million was spent on Hulu’s Instagram ads from April 15 to June 30.
Other large corporations, such as Ford, Starbucks, Unilever and Verizon have already cut or eliminated their expenses, after calls from groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP to boycott Facebook and its services for their breach of the alleged policies. “hate – speech and disinformation”. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Disney released a company-wide statement condemning racism.
Facebook said in a statement that “we know we have more work to do,” claiming that they are working with civil rights groups and a prominent commercial advertising group “to develop even more tools, technology and policies to continue this fight.” adding that they have spent “billions of dollars” on site security, banning 250 white supremacist groups and developing artificial intelligence to identify possible hate speech before any user has to flag it.
With Disney possibly joining the boycott, it remains to be seen whether this will have the desired impact on Facebook.
