Several companies have pulled campaigns from social network Facebook after their ads started appearing next to offensive photos and posts.
The Financial Times reports Nissan and U.K.-based Nationwide are among the firms that yanked ads from Facebook after they showed up next to misogynistic content. Other brands such as Dove say they are working with Facebook to fix the issue.
Nissan spokesperson David Reuter says the automaker is also working with Facebook to opt out of placing ads on pages with offensive content.
The focus on offensive content in Facebook was sparked by an open letter sent to the social network last week on behalf of several organizations including The Everyday Sexism Project and Women, Action and the Media urging Facebook to classify content "that trivializes or glorifies violence against girls and women as hate speech."
"Facebook's response to the many thousands of complaints and calls to address these issues has been inadequate," reads a portion of the letter. "You have failed to make a public statement addressing the issue, respond to concerned users, or implement policies that would improve the situation."
Facebook responded to the controversy Tuesday, saying it has removed the disputed content.
"We have been working over the past several months to improve our systems to respond to reports of violations, but the guidelines used by these systems have failed to capture all the content that violates our standards," says Marne Levine, Facebook's vice president of Global Public Policy, in a statement. "We need to do better – and we will."
The Financial Times reports Nissan and U.K.-based Nationwide are among the firms that yanked ads from Facebook after they showed up next to misogynistic content. Other brands such as Dove say they are working with Facebook to fix the issue.
Nissan spokesperson David Reuter says the automaker is also working with Facebook to opt out of placing ads on pages with offensive content.
The focus on offensive content in Facebook was sparked by an open letter sent to the social network last week on behalf of several organizations including The Everyday Sexism Project and Women, Action and the Media urging Facebook to classify content "that trivializes or glorifies violence against girls and women as hate speech."
"Facebook's response to the many thousands of complaints and calls to address these issues has been inadequate," reads a portion of the letter. "You have failed to make a public statement addressing the issue, respond to concerned users, or implement policies that would improve the situation."
Facebook responded to the controversy Tuesday, saying it has removed the disputed content.
"We have been working over the past several months to improve our systems to respond to reports of violations, but the guidelines used by these systems have failed to capture all the content that violates our standards," says Marne Levine, Facebook's vice president of Global Public Policy, in a statement. "We need to do better – and we will."