Ford Motor pulls social media advertising as part of Facebook boycott

by Alexandra Kelley | June 30, 2020 | Jun. 30, 2020

hate speech ford facebook reuters advertising revenue unilever george floyd anti-racism instagram twitter twitch reddit auto cars U.S. pause blackout protest starbucks coca-cola

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Ford Motors announced it will pause advertising on social media platforms to protest content containing hate speech.
Multiple other brands have opted to temporarily pause social media advertisements or stop altogether.

U.S. auto manufacturer Ford Motors is joining the growing list of companies to pull ads from Facebook and its subsidiaries in protest of the company’s lax policies surrounding hate speech.

Reuters reports that the company announced on Monday it will pause all advertising on social media sites in solidarity with a campaign calling for better regulation of user content.

The ad blackout will last for 30 days.

In a statement to Reuters, a Ford spokesperson said the auto giant is rethinking its social media presence, and moreover stated that racism and hate speech as online content “needs to be eradicated.”

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Over the past few weeks, social media conglomerates like Facebook have been criticized for electing to not regulate content containing hate speech or misinformation on their sites.

Prior to Ford’s announcement, Unilever, a major player in advertising, announced that it will no longer advertise on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in protest. Starbucks and Coca-Cola have also followed suit and announced advertising breaks.

Advertising revenue generates a large amount of income for these social networking sites, so a halt or pause of ads on their websites threatens their bottom lines.

In light of these boycotts, some social media sites have taken initiatives to impose stricter content regulation. Twitch, Twitter and Reddit have recently removed or hidden content deemed hateful, some of which were associated with President Trump or his supporters.

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