In recent days, more and more large companies are boycotting Facebook as part of a growing protest that claims the social media platform hasn’t done enough to prevent the spread of hate speech. And now, Ford social media advertising in the U.S. is set to join this movement, as the automaker announced today that it would be shutting down its Facebook ad spending for 30 days as well.
A civil rights coalition that includes the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the NAACP launched the #StopHateforProfit campaign last week, calling on major corporations to put a pause on advertising on Facebook. Their reasoning is the social media giant’s “repeated failure to meaningfully address the vast proliferation of hate on its platforms.”
Within days, a number of large companies answered the call, including Patagonia, North Face, REI, Starbucks, Adidas, HP, Hershey’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Coca-Cola, Honda, and Clorox, just to name a few of the 150 or so companies involved. And now, the Ford social media boycott has made it the second major automaker to join the movement.
“The existence of content that includes hate speech, violence, and racial injustice on social platforms needs to be eradicated,” Ford said in a statement. “We are actively engaged with industry initiatives led by the Association of National Advertisers to drive more accountability, transparency, and trusted measurement to clean up the digital and social media ecosystem.”
The automaker also said that it would be re-evaluating its presence on all social media platforms moving forward, as well as advertising spending in other regions.
So far, this boycott has cost Facebook dearly, as its shares lost more than $55 billion in value by the time the market closed last Friday. Advertising is a large part of the social media platform’s income stream, as it earned more than $70 billion in advertising revenue last year alone.
We’ll have more on this quickly evolving situation as it’s available, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford business news and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
This is such bogus nonsense. the new ‘hate speech’ is anything a rabid left winger doesn’t agree with.
That hurt my feelings so much I’m going to loot while wearing my BLM mask. Daddy needs a free bigger TV.
Awesome! Maybe when you’re done you can shoot a few more black folks, kill an officer or two, burn a U.S. flag and create your own country. Good luck!
Time to avoid any purchases of a new Honda or Ford. I suppose the epidemiologists (2 California Doctors) who told the truth about the Corona Virus hysteria are also ‘hate speech’.
Too bad ‘Freedom of Speech’ no longer exists in the USA. Next to go will be ‘Freedom of Thought’.
Exactly. It’s a shame that these large companies are so scared of the left wing mob that they’re willing to do anything to pander to these losers. I hope many do the same and put these idiots out of business. They are contributing to the death of this great country.
This is the first time I actually agree with all the comments on this site. This left wing liberal “WOKE” BS needs to be destroyed. The hypocrisy is insane, a white person uses the “N” word and he is full of hate and racism. A black guy uses the “N” word and it’s a term of endearment. WTF? So the race of the person saying the word defines whether or not the word is hate speech? Thats the pure definition of racism, but will the lefties say anything, absolutely not. Ford you better very careful because stunts like this are enough to get people who can afford to buy a new care to look elsewhere.
Just look how NASCAR is losing fans thanks to their overreaction to “Bubba Smollet’s” lying noose story. BUBBA’S LIES MATTER!
AMEN!!!! Be sure to never use your real name or the mob may end up at your front door after they threaten your employer if they don’t fire you.
Who gets to decide what is “hate speech”? Does the First Ammendment no longer apply? Is Ford trying to lose customers?
What a load of bs. Who’s the arbitrator of this hate speech. Seems like anything against white male christians is fine, anything bashing Trump is fine. Truth about any lib isn’t. Labeling things hate speech is just another way to shut down people that disagree with you. It’s disgusting that Ford is doing this. I’m about done with them. 60 new Fords in the last 35 years, 3 last year alone, so I do bleed blue. But they’re losing me quickly. It was stupid when they gave into the mob and got rid of the excursion, completely stupid and embarrassing when they named a fat 4 door appliance, a Mustang, and now this, along with a lot of little things. Chasing me to Hyundai. And they wonder why their stock won’t go up. With these stupid decisions, how can anyone bet on Ford
You do have a point……30-40 million voted for the clueless 1. Ill take that a little farther, and say most people in the u.s. are clueless. Am i right for the most part? Lets face it, its all about me, and my point of view. If u dont like my point of view your obviously wrong and less of a human for not sharing my point of view….Not only that, im gonna get on my megaphone and scream to everyone to make sure everyone knows my point of view is the most important view and yours doesn’t matter. If your not brainwashed, like me, you are wrong and foolish, my messiah said he was the greatest and i believe him….He said so. Right comrade? Dont get me wrong i really hope the respectable republicans will seperate themselves from the trumptard movement but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case for the majority of the party……..Marge has done such a great job. She’s awesome. Anyway, ive got another good idea, let’s take the majority of these clueless selfish americans that cant really think for themselves but know whats best for everybody else, and arm them with automatic assult rifles. Sounds like a good idea to me. I mean what could go wrong. No one’s gonna take my parking spot at walmart, i can garentee that….. Im pretty sure the orange turd was looking out for himself and his personal agenda. He definitely wasnt looking out for our nation or people as a whole. I really liked his foreign policy……America looks stronger than ever thanks to him. My 5yr old daughter or the ape could of run the country better……. Freedom of speech? For sure. Ask the family in new jersery or wherever whos daughter was murdered by her boyfriend, violently, and recorded it on social media. And still to this day will get sent pictures of their dead daughter…….. They should be allowed to do that. Its free speech. Right? Protect our rights at all costs. Merica. Its not happening to me so why should i care. Right? If a company doesn’t agree with how something is run and withholds advertising money because they dont agree that hate should be spread on a platform they advertise on, then, for sure, they should have every right to do so, and agree.