This archive report was first published on 27 June 2020.
Facebook has faced intense pressure from activists and advertisers to take action against hate speech on its platform, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.
As part of its efforts to curb hate speech, Facebook has announced a new policy to prohibit claims that people from a specific race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status are a threat to physical safety, health, or survival.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will also expand its policies to better protect immigrants, migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from ads suggesting these groups are inferior or expressing contempt, dismissal, or disgust directed at them.
The new policy comes as Unilever, a major advertiser, has joined the growing boycott of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in the US until the end of 2020 due to the polarized election period.
Facebook has defended its moves to stem racism and discrimination on its platform, saying it invests billions of dollars each year to keep its community safe and continuously works with outside experts to review and update its policies.
"We're also expanding our policies to better protect immigrants, migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from ads suggesting these groups are inferior or expressing contempt, dismissal, or disgust directed at them," Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page.
"We will soon start labeling some of the content we leave up because it is deemed newsworthy, so people can know when this is the case," Zuckerberg added.
