Verizon announced it will join other companies who have pulled advertisements off Facebook recently because it believes the social media platform is not doing enough to monitor hate speech.
In a statement released on Thursday, the telecommunications network said it would temporarily suspend advertising with the Silicon Valley company until an “acceptable” change was made to the standards of policing speech.
“We have strict content policies in place and have zero tolerance when they are breached, we take action,” Verizon’s Chief Media Officer John Nitti said. “We’re pausing our advertising until Facebook can create an acceptable solution that makes us comfortable and is consistent with what we’ve done with YouTube and other partners.”
A representative from Facebook responded by saying the company appreciated the cellular network’s business and respected its decision to move forward with advertisements on other platforms.
“We respect any brand’s decision, and remain focused on the important work of removing hate speech and providing critical voting information,” said the Facebook representative. “Our conversations with marketers and civil rights organizations are about how, together, we can be a force for good.”
Facebook has been one of the few tech giants to push back against demands that its platform limits the number and type of political ads that campaigns share on the social media application.
