Starbucks joins companies in pausing social media ads

Starbucks is the latest company to say it will pause social media ads after a campaign led by civil rights organisations called for an ad boycott of Facebook, saying it doesn't do enough to stop racist and violent content.

Starbucks said on Sunday that its actions were not part of the “#StopHateforProfit” campaign, but that it is pausing its social ads while talking with civil rights organisations and its media partners about how to stop hate speech online.

The coffee chain's announcement follows statements from Unilever, the European consumer-goods giant behind Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap; Coca-Cola; cellphone company Verizon and outdoors companies like Patagonia, Eddie Bauer and REI; film company Magnolia Pictures; jeans maker Levi's and dozens of smaller companies. 

Some of the companies will pause ads just on Facebook, while others will refrain from advertising more broadly on social media.

The outrage in the United States over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police, has led to an unprecedented reaction from corporations around the world. 

READ MORE: George Floyd’s death ushers in long-sought changes in policy, pop culture

Its impact has been felt beyond US borders. Unilever, for example, changed the name of a skin-lightening product popular in India called Fair and Lovely.

Facebook ad boycott campaign to go global, organisers say

Organisers of a Facebook Inc advertising boycott campaign that has drawn support from a rapidly expanding list of major companies are now preparing to take the battle global to increase pressure on the social media company to remove hate speech.

The "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign will begin calling on major companies in Europe to join the boycott, Jim Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, said in an interview with Reuters on Saturday. Since the campaign launched earlier this month, more than 160 companies, i ncluding Verizon Communications and Unilever Plc, have signed on to stop buying ads on the world’s largest social media platform for the month of July.

Free Press and Common Sense, along with US civil rights groups Color of Change and the Anti-Defamation League, launched the campaign following the death of George Floyd.

"The next frontier is global pressure," Steyer said, adding the campaign hopes to embolden regulators in Europe to take a harder stance on Facebook. The European Commission in June announced new guidelines for tech companies including Facebook to submit monthly reports on how they are handling coronavirus misinformation.

READ MORE: Global anti-racism protests rage over George Floyd's death

The global campaign will proceed as organisers continue to urge more US companies to participate. Jessica Gonzalez, co-chief executive of Free Press, said she has contacted major US telecommunications and media companies to ask them to join the campaign.

In response to companies halting advertising, Facebook executive Carolyn Everson said earlier this week the social networking platform is committed to purging hateful content from its services.

“Our conversations with marketers and civil rights organizations are about how, together, we can be a force for good,” said Everson, vice president of Facebook’s global business group.

Facebook's market value dropped Friday by more than 8 percent, or about $50 billion, as more companies said they would pause ads. Twitter stock also dropped more than 7 percent on Friday.

Sarah Personette, vice president of global client solutions at Twitter, said on Friday the company’s “mission is to serve the public conversation and ensure Twitter is a place where people can make human connections, seek and receive authentic and credible information, and express themselves freely and safely.”

She added that Twitter is “respectful of our partners’ decisions and will continue to work and communicate closely with them during this time.”