Facebook frustrates advertisers over hate speech

Advertisements for more than 400 brands including Coca-Cola and Starbucks are due to vanish from Facebook starting from today, after the failure of last-ditch talks to stop a boycott over hate speech on the site.

U.S. civil rights groups have enlisted the multinationals to help pressure the social media giant into taking concrete steps to block hate speech in the wake of the brutal murder of George Floyd and amid a national and international reckoning over racism that is sweeping protests across the globe.

The Facebook logo is displayed on a mobile phone. Image credit REUTERS, Johanna Geron, Illustration, File Photo

Facebook executives, including Carolyn Everson, vice president of global business solutions, and Neil Potts, public policy director, held more than two meetings with advertisers just yesterday, the eve of the planned one-month boycott, three sources who participated in the calls.

But the executives offered no new details on how they would tackle hate speech, the sources reported. Instead, they pointed back to recent press releases, frustrating advertisers on the calls who believe those plans do not go far enough.

The question then remains unanswered: when will the powerful and influential company put an end to all the suffering and distress caused by racial and hate comments published every second?