Coca-Cola, a major force in global advertising, announced Friday it would suspend ads on social media for at least 30 days, as platforms face a reckoning over how they deal with racist content.

"There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media," James Quincey, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, said in a brief statement.

He said social media companies -- which other major brands have boycotted to force changes in how they deal with hateful material -- need to provide "greater accountability and transparency."

Coca-Cola will use the pause to "reassess our advertising policies to determine whether revisions are needed," Quincey said.

The beverage giant told CNBC that the "break" does not mean it is joining the movement launched last week by African American and civil society groups.

The coalition, which includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), has been urging companies to stop advertising on Facebook, using the #StopHateForProfit hashtag.

It aims to achieve better regulation of groups inciting hatred, racism or violence on the platform.

Unilever, home to brands including Lipton tea and Ben and Jerry's ice cream, said it would stop advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the US until the end of 2020 due to the "polarized election period."

Facebook said Friday it would ban a "wider category of hateful content" in ads as the embattled social media giant moved to respond to widening protests over its handling of inflammatory posts.

Verizon joins brands boycotting Facebook ads over hate speech
San Francisco (AFP) June 26, 2020 - US telecoms giant Verizon joined the growing list of brands vowing to stop buying advertising on Facebook on Thursday over its perceived failure to crack down on hate speech and incitements to violence.

"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," said John Nitti, Verizon chief media officer.

Multiple companies -- most recently Ben & Jerry's -- have announced they will halt advertising purchases in July after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called for the boycott as part of the "Stop the Hate for Profit" campaign.

Facebook's "hate speech, incitement, and misinformation policies are inequitable," ADL chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt said in a letter Thursday.

Greenblatt noted the social media giant's "haphazard" placement of advertising, pointing to an example in which a Verizon ad appeared next to "a video from the conspiracy group QAnon drawing on hateful and anti-Semitic rhetoric."

Facebook is under increasing pressure for its hands-off approach to misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly by US President Donald Trump.

The social media company made an estimated $70 billion annually from ads, the coalition -- which includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) -- behind #StopHateForProfit claimed in a statement on the ADL website.

"We respect any brand's decision, and remain focused on the important work of removing hate speech and providing critical voting information," said Facebook's Carolyn Everson, vice president of global marketing solutions.

Sporting goods makers Patagonia, North Face and REI, as well as the freelance staffing agency Upwork have all said they would boycott Facebook.

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