Starbucks suspends social media advertising.
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Starbucks has announced it will
suspend advertising on some social media platforms in response to hate speech.
The coffee giant joins global brands
including Coca-Cola, and Unilever which have recently removed advertising from
social platforms.
A Starbucks spokesperson told BBC the social media "pause" would not include YouTube, owned by
Google.
"We believe in bringing
communities together, both in person and online," Starbucks said in a
statement.
The brand said it would "have
discussions internally and with media partners and civil rights organizations
to stop the spread of hate speech". But it will continue to post on social
media without paid promotion, it said.
The announcement came after Coca-Cola
called for "greater accountability" from social media
firms.
Coca Cola said it would pause
advertising on all social media platforms globally, while Unilever, owner of
Ben & Jerry's ice cream, said it would halt Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
advertising in the US "at least" through 2020.
The announcements follow controversy
over Facebook's approach to moderating content on its platform - seen by many
as too hands off. It came after Facebook said on Friday it would
begin to label potentially harmful or misleading posts which have been left up
for their news value.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg said
Facebook would also ban advertising containing claims "that people of a
specific race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, caste, sexual
orientation, gender identity or immigration status" are a threat to
others.
The organisers of the
#StopHateforProfit campaign, which has accused Facebook of not doing enough to
stop hate speech and disinformation, said the "small number of small
changes" would not "make a dent in the problem".
Starbucks said that while it was
suspending advertising on some social platforms, it would not join the #StopHateForProfit
campaign. More than 150 companies have paused advertising in support of
#StopHateforProfit.
The campaign has urged Mr Zuckerberg
to take further steps, including establishing permanent civil rights
"infrastructure" within Facebook; submitting to independent audits of
identity-based hate and misinformation; finding and removing public and private
groups publishing such content; and creating expert teams to review complaints.
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