Facebook advertising boycott continues to grow amid ‘Stop Hate for Profit’ campaign

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LOS ANGELES - A growing list of companies are putting a pause on Facebook and Instagram advertising to stand in solidarity with the Black community.

Starbucks and Coca-Cola are just some of the companies which have publicly announced their support in recent days for the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign.

In a blog post posted Sunday titled “Creating Welcoming and Inclusive Online Communities,” Starbucks announced it would pause all advertising on social media platforms in July.

“We will pause advertising on all social media platforms while we continue discussions internally, with our media partners and with civil rights organizations in the effort to stop the spread of hate speech,” the company wrote.

While Starbucks did not explicitly call out Facebook, the post read, “We believe both business leaders and policy makers need to come together to affect real change.”

The growing movement asks advertisers to pause all spending on Facebook-owned platforms for the month of July to show support and demand stricter policies against racist and hateful content on the social media sites.

The Coca Cola Company also issued a statement regarding its “social media platform pause” in a company press release on June 26.

Chairman and CEO James Quincey said, “There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media.”

The beverage company said it would pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days.

“We will take this time to reassess our advertising policies to determine whether revisions are needed. We also expect greater accountability and transparency from our social media partners,” Quincey added.

Within days of the campaign’s launch, outdoor companies Patagonia, REI and The North Face jumped on board to support the initiative.

Since then, the list has continued to grow, with dozens of other major companies tagging on.

According to the Stop Hate for Profit website, the list of participating companies now includes over 100 names as of June 29.

Other companies to recently announce their support of the initiative include Ben & Jerry’s, Denny’s, BirchBox, Hershey’s, Honda and Levi.

The campaign, started by Color of Change, along with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and other civil rights groups demands that Facebook “make their platforms safer for the millions of Black people that use it.”

On June 17, Color of Change unveiled its initiative, stating, “From the monetization of hate speech to discrimination in their algorithms to the proliferation of voter suppression to the silencing of Black voices, Facebook has refused to take responsibility for hate, bias, and discrimination growing on their platforms.”

The non-profit advocacy organization added, “And what has allowed Facebook to continue racist practices is the $70B of revenue from corporations every year. Companies have a choice to make about whether they want their businesses featured on Facebook’s platforms side-by-side with racist attacks on Black people.”

Color of Change asked advertisers to support “Stop Hate for Profit” to send a message to Facebook that they must change their practices, and that advertisers will not support a company that puts profit over safety.

On June 21, Facebook published a blog post which discussed its stance on improving its products, programs and policies.

The company wrote, “We have a responsibility to help keep people safe on our services and to bring the world closer together. Our Community Standards outline what is and isn’t allowed on our platform. Across the most harmful types of content we work to combat, we’ve continued to strengthen our efforts to enforce our policies and bring greater transparency to our work.”

The “Stop Hate for Profit“ movement follows weeks of nationwide protests over racial injustice and police brutality. Recently, several brands have changed their logos and names due to racial stereotypes.