Coca-Cola Halts Social Media Ads over Hate Content
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey has announced that the soda giant will suspend all social media advertising for at least 30 days in an effort to put pressure on sites like Facebook to take stronger action on hate speech.
Saying that Coca-Cola wants “great accountability and transparency” on social media, Quincey added “There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media.”
Coca-Cola’s announcement came after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said his company will start “labeling potentially harmful or misleading posts” and would ban ads that imply a certain race, immigration status, ethnicity, gender and more are a threat. Social media experts told the BBC that Facebook’s new changes “won’t make a dent in the problem” of hate speech.
Other companies like Verizon, Ben & Jerry’s, Levi Strauss and more are also boycotting Facebook. With news of Coca-Cola’s boycott, Facebook’s shares fell by 8.3% on Friday.
Has Facebook taken enough measures to stop the spread of hate speech? Do you think Facebook will take stronger action if more big advertisers boycott the site? Does the almighty dollar take precedence over ethical policies on social media?
