A survey by the World Federation of Advertisers has revealed that almost one third of the world’s top 58 advertisers will or are likely to suspend advertising on Facebook, and a further 40 per cent are considering doing so.
The move, in support of the ‘Stop Hate for Profit’ campaign, which will see a month-long boycott of advertising on Facebook, is a call of action over the social network’s failure to do enough to fight hate speech on its platform.
Big-spending members of the Federation control nearly $100 billion in advertising spending, the Guardian reports.
Earlier this week, Ford and Adidas joined corporations such as Honda, Unilever, Verizon and Diageo by announcing their intention to stop all advertising on Facebook. Other big brands such as Starbucks and Coca-Cola have stopped advertising but haven’t officially announced their support for the campaign.
The movement is also picking up momentum beyond the US. Car-manufacturer VW said it was also joining the boycott, along with Honda Europe and Ford Europe.
A Ford spokesman said “We are pausing all US and European social media advertising for the next 30 days to re-evaluate our presence on these platforms. The existence of content that includes hate speech, violence and racial injustice on social platforms needs to be eradicated.”
