Ben & Jerry’s joins Facebook ad boycott organized by civil rights groups

Ben & Jerry’s is the youngest company to join an advertising boycott of Facebook, saying it stands with groups and other companies that ask the social network to do more to remove abusive content from the giant’s social networking platform

The boycott, which also applies to ads on Facebook’s own photo sharing app Instagram, begins on July 1, the ice cream brand said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Ben & Jerry’s is standing with our friends at NAACP and Color of Change, the ADL, and everyone calling on Facebook to take more measures to prevent their platforms from being used to divide our nation, to suppress voters, to stir up and ignite the flames of racism and violence and undermine our democracy, “said the company.

“Facebook, Inc. must take clear and unambiguous measures to prevent its platform from being used to spread and amplify racism and hatred,” added the company.

The boycott began earlier this month when six civil rights groups asked companies to stop advertising on Facebook in July to encourage the social network to do more against hate speech and misinformation. Outdoor product seller Recreational Equipment Inc., better known as REI, and outdoor clothing brand The North Face have already done so announced their support for the boycott.

The Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Colors of Change, Free Press, and Common Sense say the boycott of advertising on Facebook will put pressure on the platform to support their $ 70 billion in annual advertising revenue to use by people who are victims of racism and hate it and to increase security for private groups on the website.

According to the ADL survey of Americans using social media, more than 55% of Facebook users said they experienced hate and harassment on the platform.

The rights groups say Facebook has allowed content that could lead to violence against protesters who are fighting for racial justice after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks. Facebook has been criticized for not removing a protest-related post by President Donald Trump that stakeholders, and even the company’s own employees, said it could cause violence.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said in a blog post Tuesday that it was making progress in reducing hate speech on its platform. Facebook cited a report from the European Commission (PDF) that the social networking giant was reviewing reports of hate speech on its platform faster than before.

The report found that Facebook rated 95.7% of hate speech in less than 24 hours, compared to 81.5% on YouTube and 76.6% on Twitter.

“While we realize that we have more to do, these results suggest that we are moving in the right direction and that we have systems that continue to lead our industry,” said Guy Rosen, vice president of integrity at Facebook, in a blog post on Tuesday.

CNET’s Queenie Wong contributed to this report.