Facebook's Zuckerberg to meet activists, won't act on boycott

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to a new meeting with activists on the social media giant's content policies while vowing to resist pressure from an advertiser boycott, the company said Thursday.

The news comes amid increased pressure on the leading social network to clamp down on incendiary content which promotes racism and violence, which has gained momentum with more tan 650 advertisers joining a boycott.

Zuckerberg told an employee meeting this week the boycott is not likely to have a major impact and that most of the advertisers "will be back on the platform soon enough," according to an account first reported by The Information and confirmed by AFP.

The Facebook CEO repeated that he would not change policy based on "a threat" to revenue but based on "the right things" for the Facebook community.

"We're not gonna change our policies or approach on anything because of a threat to a small percent of our revenue, or any percent of our revenue," he said.

"We're gonna do what we think are the right things that we think are gonna serve the community best over time."

A Facebook spokesperson, asked about the pressure, said in an email: "We take these matters very seriously and respect the feedback from our partners... But as we've said, we make policy changes based on principles, not revenue pressures."

The spokesperson said Zuckerberg agreed to join a meeting with activist leaders including from the NAACP, Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change to discuss Facebook's moderation practices.

"They asked about having Mark at the meeting, and we've since confirmed that Mark is able to join," the statement said.

The Washington Post reported the meeting would take place Monday.

The groups are seeking a top level executive to evaluate "products and policies for discrimination, bias, and hate," according to a statement from the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, as well as independent audits of "identity-based hate and misinformation."

Eight major Canadian banks join Facebook ad boycott
Montreal (AFP) July 2, 2020 - Eight major Canadian banks said Thursday they would heed a call by other major global advertisers to boycott Facebook, demanding the social network do more to tackle racist and other hate speech.

Scotiabank, RBC, CIBC, TD, BMO, National Bank of Canada, Desjardins and Laurentian Bank confirmed to AFP that they support the #StopHateForProfit movement launched by social justice activists.

That means they will pull their ads from Facebook and its sister photo-sharing platform Instagram.

"We have temporarily paused paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram," a TD spokeswoman said.

"TD is committed to the fight against racism and hate speech and to the work needed to help create a safer and more inclusive society."

An RBC spokesman said the bank wanted to work towards "eliminating systemic racism and unconscious bias, and enhance diversity, equity and inclusion."

"One way we can do that is by standing against misinformation and hate speech, which only make systemic racism more pervasive," he added.

More than 400 companies including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Puma and Starbucks have suspended their ad buys on Facebook, which has more than 1.7 billion daily users.

The #StopHateForProfit campaign was launched by pressure groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the United States.

The movement gained momentum in the wake of the May death in police custody of George Floyd, an unarmed African American.

Last week, Facebook said it would ban a "wider category of hateful content" in response to the growing protests.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the changes were based on "feedback from the civil rights community and reflect months of work with our civil rights auditors."

This week, the world's leading social network disrupted a "violent US-based anti-government network" loosely affiliated with the far-right "Boogaloo" movement.

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