Here’s how much of a revenue hit Facebook will take as Diageo and Starbucks
Facebook shares fell in premarket trading on Monday, after Diageo and Starbucks became the latest companies to halt advertising on social media platforms over ineffective policing of hate speech.
Shares of Mark Zuckerberg’s company
FB,
fell more than 2% ahead of the open of regular trading, with Twitter
TWTR,
down by a similar amount.
“Diageo
DGE,
strives to promote inclusion and diversity, including through our marketing campaigns. From 1 July we will pause all paid advertising globally on major social media platforms. We will continue to discuss with media partners how they will deal with unacceptable content,” the U.K. spirits and beers maker said in statement.
On Sunday, coffee giant Starbucks
SBUX,
said it was “pausing” advertisements on all social-media platforms, and would “continue discussions internally, with our media partners and with civil-rights organizations in the effort to stop the spread of hate speech.” On Friday, Unilever
UN,
ULVR,
said it would halt U.S. advertising on Facebook and Twitter through year-end. Its Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream unit had previously announced a Facebook ban.
Coca-Cola
KO,
said on Friday that it would “pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globally for at least 30 days.” On Saturday, Levi’s Strauss & Co.
LEVI,
announced it would pause ads on Instagram and Facebook via Twitter.
Late on Friday, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced policy changes, during a virtual town hall meeting, to hide or block content considered hateful or that could harm voting, with no exception for politicians, which Twitter has already done to President Donald Trump and others. Twitter hasn’t been a target of the boycott call but has come under fresh scrutiny, and shares have fallen alongside those of Facebook.
Neither Facebook nor Twitter could immediately be reached for comment.
Read:Facebook’s Zuckerberg was reportedly talked out of making moves against Trump as far back as 2015
The boycotts stem from a #StopHateforProfits campaign announced by a coalition of civil-rights and other groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has asked Facebook advertisers to show that they won’t support companies that prioritize profits over safety.
Since the launch of the campaign, the list of companies opting to pause advertising is growing, but Facebook is still looking at less than a 5% hit on revenue, said Rohit Kulkarni, executive director at MKM Partners, in a note to clients.
Firstly, he said Facebook makes the bulk of its revenues from mobile direct ads and small business…
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