Vodafone Group Plc VODAFONE BARS ADS ON HATE SPEECH/FAKE NEWS OUTLETS
June 06 2017 - 5:00AM
RNS Non-Regulatory
TIDMVOD
Vodafone Group Plc
06 June 2017
6 June 2017
VODAFONE BLOCKS ADVERTISING ON HATE SPEECH AND FAKE NEWS OUTLETS
WORLDWIDE
Vodafone today announced new global rules intended to prevent
its advertising from appearing within outlets focused on creating
and sharing hate speech and fake news. The update to the Group's
existing policy on advertising transparency and integrity is set
out below. The new rules - which are now in effect - include
Vodafone's definition of hate speech and fake news for the purposes
of determining whether or not a particular outlet should carry
Vodafone advertising. There is no change to Vodafone's policy on
network access to the outlets in question.
Background: the digital advertising market
Over the last decade, the rapid growth of digital advertising
has provided major brands such as Vodafone with extensive
opportunities to engage directly with consumers and businesses
online. More recently, the advertising industry and digital
advertising providers such as Google and Facebook have developed
automated advertising technologies that use algorithms to deliver
digital advertising to targeted demographic categories of internet
user, serving ads dynamically within individual websites and social
media channels as those users browse.
While automated advertising is a powerful tool - allowing
advertisers to focus their investment on specific market segments
across almost all digital properties - in a small minority of
instances it can also lead to unintended and potentially harmful
outcomes including advertising appearing next to offensive content.
Additionally, automated advertising technologies can have the
effect of generating revenue for outlets focused on hate speech and
fake news.
Advertisers such as Vodafone therefore risk their brands being
marketed within outlets that are fundamentally at odds with their
values and beliefs as a company while inadvertently providing a
source of funding for those outlets.
Vodafone Group Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said: "Hate speech
and fake news threaten to undermine the principles of respect and
trust that bind communities together. Vodafone has a strong
commitment to diversity and inclusion; we also greatly value the
integrity of the democratic processes and institutions that are
often the targets of purveyors of fake news. We will not tolerate
our brand being associated with this kind of abusive and damaging
content."
Vodafone's global rules
Vodafone already has a number of rules designed to ensure
transparency and integrity in the allocation of the Group's global
advertising budget. For example, Vodafone's current policy
expressly prohibits using commercial engagement with a media outlet
as leverage to influence editorial opinion regarding Vodafone's
products, services or corporate activities, stating that "Vodafone
or its agents must neither threaten to withdraw advertising from
those who criticise Vodafone editorially nor must it imply in any
way that a decision to initiate or increase advertising spending
with a particular publication would be contingent upon more
favourable editorial treatment".
The new rules focused on hate speech and fake news outlets are
implemented by means of a whitelist-based approach using content
controls implemented by Vodafone's global agency network (led by
WPP), Google and Facebook. Those controls ensure that Vodafone
advertisements are only served within selected outlets identified
as highly unlikely to be focused on harmful content. These measures
will be reviewed regularly by Vodafone and its global agency
network to ensure that the selection of outlets for whitelisting is
appropriate and neither too broad nor too narrow.
The new rules are as follows.
Blocking advertising on hate speech and fake news outlets
Vodafone, third parties acting on its behalf and its advertising
platform suppliers (including, but not limited to, Google and
Facebook) must take all measures necessary to ensure that Vodafone
advertising does not appear within hate speech and fake news
outlets. We define these as outlets whose predominant purpose is
the dissemination of content that is:
-- deliberately intended to degrade women or vulnerable minorities ("hate speech"); or
-- presented as fact-based news (as opposed to satire or
opinion) that has no credible primary source (or relies on
fraudulent attribution to a primary source) with what a reasonable
person would conclude is the deliberate intention to mislead ("fake
news").
Note that:
-- the term "outlet" encompasses all social media, digital,
print and broadcast channels, sites, apps, programmes and
publications;
-- the term "advertising" encompasses all forms of brand
promotion including advertising, advertorial, sponsorship and
co-marketing arrangements; and
-- these mandatory rules apply to all Vodafone brands,
subsidiary brands, joint venture brands and sub-brands.
The hate speech and fake news definitions, above, apply to an
outlet as a whole. The test is whether or not the predominant
purpose of the entire outlet is to communicate and share this kind
of harmful material. An outlet that carries some hate speech or
fake news content - but where the majority of content disseminated
would not meet the tests above - must not be categorised as
warranting exclusion from advertising whitelists on hate
speech/fake news grounds.
The rules above are designed to protect the integrity of
Vodafone's brands and sub-brands and relate purely to restrictions
on advertising placement. They do not, and must never, be used as
the basis for restrictions on access to content by our customers
(or any other users) who must remain free to create, view and share
all lawful content as they choose. Details of Vodafone's Principles
on Freedom of Expression can be found at:
http://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/vodafone-images/sustainability/drf/pdf/vodafone_drf_freedom_expression_network_censorship.pdf
- ends -
For further information:
Vodafone Group
Media Relations Investor Relations
www.vodafone.com/media/contact Telephone: +44 (0) 7919
990 230
About Vodafone Group
Vodafone Group is one of the world's largest telecommunications
companies and provides a range of services including voice,
messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone Group has mobile
operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 49
more, and fixed broadband operations in 17 markets. As of 31 March
2017, Vodafone Group had 515.7 million mobile customers and 17.9
million fixed broadband customers, including India and all of the
customers in Vodafone's joint ventures and associates. For more
information, please visit: www.vodafone.com.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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