Story at a glance
- “Starbucks is in the process of evaluating their organic presence on FB, and whether they should continue to have a presence on the platform at all,” a Facebook employee wrote to a colleague last week, according to BuzzFeed.
- The Facebook employee reportedly said Starbucks was having problems moderating the hateful comments and has been unable to disable them on its page.
- The coffee giant has spoken out on social issues such as the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd and the recent wave of anti-Asian attacks.
Starbucks may be considering leaving social media network Facebook due to an influx of hateful comments left on the coffee company’s posts related to social justice issues, according to a report from BuzzFeed News.
BuzzFeed cites internal discussions among Facebook employees who handle the platform’s relationship with Starbucks.
America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
“Starbucks is in the process of evaluating their organic presence on FB, and whether they should continue to have a presence on the platform at all,” a Facebook employee wrote to a colleague last week, according to BuzzFeed.
“Anytime they post (organically) in regards to social issues or their mission & values work (e.g. BLM, LGBTQ, sustainability/climate change, etc.) they are overwhelmed by negative/insensitive, hate speech related comments on their posts,” the employee said.
The Facebook employee reportedly said Starbucks was having problems moderating the hateful comments and was unable to disable them on its page.
Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Changing America.
A Starbucks spokesperson would not confirm to BuzzFeed if the company was considering leaving Facebook but said it stands “against hate speech.”
While Starbucks mainly posts information about its products on the company’s Facebook page, the coffee giant also speaks on social issues such as the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd and the recent wave of anti-Asian attacks in the U.S.
BuzzFeed notes Starbucks would be the largest company to leave Facebook but not the first, as Elon Musk removed the SpaceX and Tesla Facebook pages in 2018 as part of the #DeleteFacebook campaign. The companies, however, still have their Instagram accounts active, which is owned by Facebook.
Starbucks last year was among hundreds of companies to stop advertising on the social media network as part of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign. The effort aimed to put pressure on Facebook to take a harder stance on hateful content.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
NY TIMES ESTIMATES WEALTHY AMERICANS ARE REFUSING TO PAY $1.4T IN UNCOLLECTED TAXES
THE SUPREME COURT COULD DEAL A MAJOR BLOW TO MINORITY VOTERS
BIDEN ADVISER REPORTEDLY SAYS WHITE HOUSE WILL START REPARATIONS TO BLACK COMMUNITY ‘NOW’
TAYLOR SWIFT BASHES NETFLIX AFTER ‘DEEPLY SEXIST JOKE’
WOMEN OF COLOR ARE TIPPING THE BALANCE OF POWER IN U.S. CITIES
NEW POLL FINDS RECORD NUMBER OF AMERICANS IDENTIFY AS LGBT
changing america copyright.
