Starbucks
SBUX,
-3.08%
announced Sunday in an online statement that it is “pausing” advertisements on all social-media platforms, two days after consumer-products conglomerate Unilever
UN,
-0.58%
ULVR,
+1.23%
UNA,
+0.65%
said it was halting U.S. advertising on Facebook
FB,
-8.31%
and Twitter
TWTR,
-7.39%
through year-end over ineffective policing of hate speech, leading to a sharp Friday selloff in both stocks. The coffee giant said it would “continue discussions internally, with our media partners and with civil-rights organizations in the effort to stop the spread of hate speech.” Verizon Communications Inc.
VZ,
-2.06%
and ice-cream company Ben & Jerry’s, itself a unit of Unilever, had previously pulled advertising from Facebook. Coca-Cola Co.
KO,
-3.02%
joined the Facebook ad boycott Friday. Facebook late Friday reversed course and said it would now hide or block content considered hateful or endangering voting, removing a prior exception for politicians.
