In the fight against hate and agitation online, more than 100 companies no longer want to advertise on Facebook and other online networks. This has severe financial consequences for Facebook – the company earns almost all of its money from advertising.
On Friday, Facebook lost around 8 percent on the stock exchange. According to the Bloomberg news agency, this corresponded to a loss in value of $ 56 billion. Company boss Mark Zuckerberg (36) has lost $ 7 billion in his private wealth.
In the wake of the current racism debate, many companies are demanding that Facebook control the content on the platform more closely. For example, complaints from users who are discriminated against on the basis of their race or religion should be examined intensively.
After corporations such as Coca Cola, Unilever and jeans manufacturer Levi’s, Starbucks and Pepsi have now also joined the boycott.
“Our aim is to bring communities together – personally and on the Internet. We’re against hate speech, ”said Starbucks. Starbucks said that the company wanted to advise internally and with media partners and civil society organizations about suitable methods in the fight against hatred and baiting on the Internet and to suspend advertising “on all social media platforms”.
Pepsi also joins the boycott and does not run ads in July and August, reports “Fox Business“. So far there is no official confirmation.
Zuckerberg’s reaction
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg (36) announced the following changes:
▶ ︎ Claims that people of a certain “race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity or a certain immigration statute pose a threat to physical security, health or the survival of others” are prohibited.
▶ ︎ “Immigrants, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers” should be protected from advertisements that they represent as inferior or despicable.
Tightened measures also for politician posts
In certain cases, Facebook wants to mark messages from politicians in the future if they violate the rules of the network.
Zuckerberg: “A few times a year we leave content that would otherwise violate our rules if the public interest is greater than the risk of damage.”
The content should be marked accordingly in the future, but not removed.
Zuckerberg emphasized that there are no exceptions if messages could lead to violence or oppression of the right to vote. Such content would be deleted. The Facebook boss referred to the election campaign for the US presidential election in November, which should be particularly “heated”.
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