Facebook promises to do more against toxic content before meeting with boycotters - France 24

Washington (AFP)

Facebook pledged on Tuesday to make more efforts against toxic and hateful content, which earned it a call to boycott advertisers, a few hours before a meeting between the organizers of the movement and the main leaders of the first social network in the world .

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be flanked by his number two Sheryl Sandberg for a teleconference with key organizers of #StopHateForProfit which has convinced more than 900 companies not to buy advertising - his main source of income - on the network during the month of July.

The movement was launched a few weeks ago by the main organization for the defense of the civil rights of African-Americans, the NAACP, as well as the Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism or Color of Change, all on background demonstrations against racism and police violence across the country. They are demanding that Facebook make more efforts to eliminate content that promotes racism, discrimination and hate.

Ms. Sandberg says she is aware of the importance of what is being played out. On her Facebook page, she notes that the teleconference is being held "in the context of what is perhaps the most important social movement in the history of the United States, and the best - and perhaps the last - chance for our nation to act against the racism that permeates our country. "

She also claims that the social network is about to announce changes in its publication policy following discussions with civil rights defenders but also based on an internal audit.

"We are making changes, not for financial reasons or because of pressure from advertising companies, but because it is the right thing to do," she said, adding that Facebook has been striving for years to reduce the presence of hateful publications on the network, in response to the many voices that accuse it of not having made enough efforts in this direction.

Sandberg said the listeners' civil rights report "commissioned more than two years ago" will be released on Wednesday, and will serve as a guide for leadership of the Silicon Valley giant to make changes.

Adidas, Puma, Levis, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Ford, Unilever (Lipton, Magnum, Dove, etc.) ...: more than 900 companies have suspended their purchases of ads on the social network to 1.73 billion users daily.

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