Zuckerberg Loses $7.2bn As Unilever, Coca-Cola, Others Boycott Facebook Ads

Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg became $7.2 billion poorer after some firms pulled out their adverts from Facebook citing the company’s failure to police hate speech and disinformation on its site.

The company’s shares fell 8.3 percent on Friday, the most in three months after Unilever, one of the world’s largest advertisers said it would stop selling its products on Facebook.

The company joined other large firms such as Verizon Communications, Hershey, and Honda in pulling their ads from the social media giant.

Coca Cola said it would suspend its advertising on all social media platforms for at least a month.
The share-price drop eliminated $56 billion from Facebook’s market value and pushed Zuckerberg’s own net worth down to $82.3 billion.

The move left Facebook’s chief executive in fourth place on the list, overtaken by LVMH Moet Hennessy boss Bernard Arnault, who is now in third place behind billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

The ADL on Thursday sent an open letter to Facebook advertisers saying the social media platform “continues to come up short” in its efforts to block “rampant hate and harassment.”

“Every day, we see ads from companies placed adjacent to hateful content, occupying the same space as extremist recruitment groups and harmful disinformation campaigns,” ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt said.

“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.”