Clorox To Halt Facebook Ads Through Year End, Joining Advertiser Push On Content
June 29 2020 - 4:15PM
Dow Jones News
By Micah Maidenberg
Clorox Co. said it would temporarily stop advertising on
Facebook Inc., joining a parade of other companies that have moved
to halt ad spending on the social-media giant over how it has
handled speech on its platforms.
The company behind its namesake cleaning supplies, Kingsford
charcoal and other consumer brands said Monday that it is pausing
buying ads on Facebook through December to take action against what
it said was hate speech, "which we believe will increase through
the balance of the year."
"This creates an increasingly unhealthy environment for people
and our purpose-driven brands," Clorox said in a statement about
its decision.
A Clorox spokesperson said the pause in spending is global and
covers the main Facebook platform as well as the company's
Instagram unit.
A Facebook spokeswoman didn't have a comment regarding Clorox's
decision, but said the social-media company invests billions each
year to ensure safety and continuously works with outside experts
to review and update its policies.
The company has banned 250 white supremacist organization from
Facebook and Instagram, she said, adding that artificial
intelligence allows Facebook to find close to 90% of hate speech
before users report it.
Last week, Unilever PLC, the consumer-products company behind
Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise and other items, said it would
halt ad spending on Facebook and Twitter Inc. for at least the
remainder of the year, pointing to hate speech and other divisive
content.
Coca-Cola Co. announced a wider pause on Friday, saying it would
temporarily halt spending on all social-media platforms for 30
days.
Other companies have also moved to boycott Facebook for varying
lengths of time.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has said the company
was making further changes to its platform. Facebook will add
labels to certain posts and forbid advertisements that claim
specific groups of people pose threats to the physical safety,
health or survival of others, according to a Facebook post from Mr.
Zuckerberg on Friday.
Civil-rights groups had pushed advertisers to pull advertising
spending on Facebook for July to protest what they said was the
company's failure to halt hate speech and misinformation on its
platform.
Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 29, 2020 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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