Facebook tells advertisers it won't make policy changes 'under revenue pressure' - after Verizon became the latest company to pulls ads

Facebook executives has written to advertisers to say it is listening to their concerns about the promotion of hate speech on their platform, but will 'not make policy changes tied to revenue pressure'.

A campaign to encourage advertisers to avoid Facebook is gathering steam, and causing sleepless nights at the social media giant's headquarters.

The #StopHateForProfit coalition claims Facebook earns around 99 per cent of its estimated $70 billion annually from ads. 

However Carolyn Everson, the vice president of Global Business Group at Facebook, said: 'We do not make policy changes tied to revenue pressure.' 

In an email to advertisers last weekend that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, she continued: 'We set our policies based on principles rather than business interests.'

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Facebook is confronting a challenge after several firms pulled the plug on advertising

Facebook executives are also vowing to invest more to tackle hate on the platform, including continuing the development of artificial-intelligence technology that can detect hate speech, according to the email.

The email came ahead of a tough week for the company.  

In a letter to advertisers on Thursday, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said Facebook has repeatedly refused to remove political ads that contained 'blatant lies,' and has been slow to respond to calls to take down conspiratorial content.

'Every day, we see ads from companies placed adjacent to hateful content, occupying the same space as extremist recruitment groups and harmful disinformation campaigns,' the Anti-Defamation League said in its letter. 

'Your ad buying dollars are being used by the platform to increase its dominance in the industry at the expense of vulnerable and marginalized communities who are often targets of hate groups on Facebook.'

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Verizon has joined the growing list of US companies boycotting Facebook over its failure to crack down on hate speech, after one of its ads was reportedly posted next to a video 'drawing on hateful and antisemitic rhetoric' on the platform

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Shares in the social media giant tumbled 2 percent Thursday following Verizon's announcement

In response to the letter Verizon announced it was pulling its ads, which had earned the company $1.46 million in the month to June 20. 

Verizon followed the lead set by Ben & Jerry's, North Face, Patagonia, REI and others. 

The boycott is expected to expand. 

'Several of my clients are planning on sitting out in July,' said Barry Lowenthal, the chief executive of the Media Kitchen agency, an ad-buying agency.

Some marketers are pausing because 'it's the right thing to do as a good corporate citizen,' he said. 

The brands, which are midsize advertisers, are likely to pause quietly, he added.

Verizon said it would halt advertising until Facebook 'can create an acceptable solution that makes us comfortable'.

The ADL had highlighted Verizon in their letter, with CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt noting they had found a Verizon ad posted next to a video featuring 'hateful and antisemitic rhetoric' from conspiracy group QAnon.

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The #StopHateForProfit coalition claims Facebook earns around 99 per cent of its estimated $70 billion annually from ads

'[The Anti-Defamation League] found an advertisement for Verizon appearing next to a video from the conspiracy group QAnon drawing on hateful and antisemitic rhetoric, warning that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is planning to bring on civil war with concentration camps and coffins at the ready and claiming Americans are already quarantined in militarized districts,' the letter read. 

Verizon's response was swift. 

'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 in a statement. 

'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.'  

Shares in the social media giant tumbled two per cent Thursday following Verizon's announcement.  

The telecomms firm is the latest in a string of companies showing their support for the #StopHateForProfit campaign, which was launched in the wake of the Memorial Day killing of black man George Floyd by a white cop which has ignited racial tensions across America.

The initiative is supported by the six organizations and civil rights groups including ADL, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Sleeping Giants, Color of Change, Free Press and Common Sense.

They are calling on advertisers to suspend spending on Facebook during the month of July.

The boycott is being staged as Facebook faces growing pressure over its hands-off approach to misinformation and inflammatory posts, such as from Donald Trump, as well as over how it has policed misinformation about Black Lives Matter protests.

North Face was first to pledge its allegiance to the civil rights groups last week and now several major companies including ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's, sports brands Patagonia and North Face and the freelance staffing agency Upwork have all joined the boycott. 

North Face was first to pledge its allegiance to the civil rights groups last week and now several major companies including ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's have joined the boycott

The campaign has criticized Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's decision to not moderate the president, after the CEO again defended his decision not to limit Trump's often controversial, incendiary and inaccurate posts.

Twitter's decision in May to hide one of Trump's tweets for 'glorifying violence' exposed turmoil at Facebook, with employees rebelling against Zuckerberg's refusal to sanction false or inflammatory posts by the president.

Facebook last week said it removed ads by Trump's re-election campaign that contained a symbol used in Nazi Germany for political prisoners, a move welcomed by rights activists.

But activists called on Facebook to crack down harder on Trump and his campaign as the November election looms. 

'It is clear that Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, are no longer simply negligent, but in fact, complacent in the spread of misinformation, despite the irreversible damage to our democracy,' the NAACP said in a tweet.

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The coalition criticized Zuckerberg's decision late last month to leave up a particularly inflammatory Trump post, which stated in part: 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts'

The coalition criticized Zuckerberg's decision late last month to leave up a particularly inflammatory Trump post, which stated in part: 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts'. 

Twitter hid the same message behind a warning that said the post 'incited violence'.

Several Facebook employees staged a 'virtual walkout' over Zuckerberg's decision.

The Facebook co-founder then held a conference call with civil rights leaders who condemned him for failing to remove the post.

In a subsequent statement, Rashad Robinson of Color of Change, Vanita Gupta of the Leadership Conference and Sherrilyn Ifill of LDF said: 'He [Zuckerberg] did not demonstrate understanding of historic or modern-day voter suppression and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump's call for violence against protesters. Mark is setting a very dangerous precedent for other voices who would say similar harmful things on Facebook.'

Facebook told DailyMail.com in a statement Thursday that it respects the decision of advertisers and that it is working with civil rights groups on removing hate speech from the platform. 

'We respect any brand's decision, and remain focused on the important work of removing hate speech and providing critical voting information,' said Everson.

'Our conversations with marketers and civil rights organizations are about how, together, we can be a force for good.'