Facebook loses out as advertisers stay away

Advertisements for more than 400 brands including Coca-Cola and Starbucks vanished from Facebook on Wednesday, after the failure of last-ditch talks to stop a boycott over hate speech on the site.

US civil rights groups have enlisted the multinationals to help pressure the social media giant into taking concrete steps to block hate speech in the wake of the death of George Floyd and amid a national reckoning over racism.

Facebook executives held at least two meetings with advertisers on Tuesday, the eve of the planned onemonth boycott, three sources who participated in the calls told Reuters.

But the executives offered no new details on how they would tackle hate speech, the sources said. Instead, they pointed back to recent news releases, frustrating advertisers on the calls who believe those plans do not go far enough.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to meet with the organizers of the boycott, a spokeswoman said. One of those groups, the Anti-Defamation League, said the meeting would happen next week.

US civil rights groups including the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP and Color of Change started the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign after the death of Floyd, a black man who died under the knee of a white police officer in May.

The groups outlined 10 demands, including allowing people who experience severe harassment to speak with a Facebook employee and giving refunds to brands whose ads show up next to offensive content that is later removed.