Starting today, Unilever, which owns 400 brands, is suspending all US-targeted advertising on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in an effort to pressure the social media platforms to do more to stop hate speech.
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images))
Unilever, a major consumer goods company, is stopping all advertising on Facebook and Twitter, citing the hate speech circulating over the social media platforms.
“Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society,” the company said in today’s announcement. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the news.
Unilever is joining a growing advertising boycott of Facebook to pressure the social network into taking a harder stance against hate speech and misinformation. For more than a week now, the civil rights groups the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League have been calling on all corporate brands to pause advertising on the social network through July.
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“It is clear that Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, are no longer simply negligent, but in fact, complacent in the spread of misinformation, despite the irreversible damage to our democracy,” said NAACP president Derrick Johnson.
