Mark Zuckerberg's recent promise to add labels to certain rule-breaking posts has not stopped those big-name advertisers from actually joining the advertising boycott of this social network? Companies like Coca-Cola, Hershey, and even Honda are the newest high-profile companies that have stated that they will temporarily pull out of advertising with Facebook.
Unilever, the mother company behind brands like Lipton, Dove, and even Verizon (the owner of Engadget but does not have editorial control over them) had already announced earlier that they would also be joining the boycott that was organized by the certain civil rights group.
Big names leaving Facebook
There are already over 120 companies that are participating in the boycott, according to a particular spreadsheet that was tracking their names. A few companies, just like Coca-Cola, are already opting to pause their Facebook ads, but have not been explicitly joining the boycott.
According to CEO James Quincey in his statement towards CNBC, the Coca-Cola Company will be pausing their paid ads on every single social media platform globally for about 30 days. They said that they will be taking this time to properly reassess their advertising policies in order to determine whether certain revisions are needed. They also expect much greater accountability as well as transparency from their social media partners.
Either officially boycotting or not, there has been an increasing call for transparency that will ratchet up the total pressure on Facebook to do much more to assuage a few of its highest-profile advertisers. In a particular statement, a certain spokesperson said that the whole company would then "continue to work with civil rights groups."
The spokesperson stated that they invested billions of dollars every single year in order to keep their community safe and also continuously work with certain outside experts in order to both review and update their policies. They have opened themselves up to the civil rights audit, and have also banned about 250 white supremacist organizations from both Facebook and also Instagram.
Facebook's effectivity
The invest they have made in AI means that they will be able to find about 90% of the Hate Speech they action before certain users report it to them. A recent EU report also found that Facebook assessed more hate speech in total over 24 hours compared to Twitter and YouTube.
The spokesperson also stated that they have much more work to do and that they will continue to work along with the civil rights group, GARM, and also other experts in order to develop additional tools, technology, and also policies for them to continue this fight.
Zuckerberg has already staunchly defended his previous decisions in order for him to avoid becoming the "arbiter of truth" and has also repeatedly clarified that he's intensely uncomfortable with the idea of meddling with the matter and also dislikes limiting user's speech. A certain Facebook executive also reportedly told advertisers that the company does not actually "make policy changes tied to revenue pressure."
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