scrambling after the popular chain reportedly threatened to remove its advertising from the platform over frustrations regarding hateful comments left on posts about racial and social justice issues.
"Starbucks is in the process of evaluating their organic presence on FB, and whether they should continue to have a presence on the platform at all," a Facebook employee wrote to colleagues in internal discussions seen by BuzzFeed News."Anytime they post in regards to social issues or their mission & values work they are overwhelmed by negative/insensitive, hate speech related comments on their posts," the memo added.
The news comes amid a growing concern held by some with high advertising and branding stakes in Facebook over purportedly unregulated hate speech, racism and possible data breaches on the popular social media platform.In June last year, hundreds of companies banded together in a boycott to stop advertising on Facebook as part of the 'Stop Hate for Profit' campaign, which sought to pressure the network into taking a tougher approach against racist and hateful content.
A group of organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Color of Change, led the charge in asking businesses to stop buying ads on Facebook for a month over July. The organizations accused the platform of inadequately moderating its site against posts inciting hate and violence.