SAP joins the growing ad boycott against Facebook, even as the new CEO says it's 'time to stand up against racism' (SAP)
* SAP says it will suspend advertisements on Facebook and Instagram as it endorsed the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign against the social network.
* "We will suspend all paid advertisements…until the company signals a significant, action-driven commitment to combating the spread of hate speech and racism on its platforms," the company said in a statement.
* Major companies, including Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Unilever, have pulled ads on Facebook in the wake of the mass protests against racism following the killing of George Floyd.
* Facebook has been criticized for allowing President Trump to post what many consider hateful content that also incited violence.
* In a recent interview with Business Insider, SAP CEO Christian Klein had cited the rise of racism as one of the issues he worries about. "It's really now time to stand up against racism. For way too long, we've just ignored that. All of us were too silent about that."
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Tech giant SAP says it has joined the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign against Facebook and will suspend all paid advertisements on the social network.
SAP, one of the biggest enterprise software companies in the world, said it will also stop advertising on Instagram, which Facebook owns.
"We will suspend all paid advertisements…until the company signals a significant, action-driven commitment to combating the spread of hate speech and racism on its platforms," the company said in a statement.
"For real, meaningful change to occur, we must recognize, acknowledge and address our own role in the systems that perpetuate systemic racism."
In an interview with Business Insider earlier in June, SAP's CEO Christian Klein had pointed to the rise of racism as one of the issues he's concerned about.
"I see the news every day about what is happening in the US," he said. "It's really now time to stand up against racism. For way too long, we've just ignored that. All of us were too silent about that."
SAP joins other major corporations, including PepsiCo and Hewlett-Packard, that have pulled their ads from Facebook or Instagram in the wake of the mass protests against racism sparked by the killing of George Floyd. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been criticized for declining to take any action on posts by President Donald Trump on the social network that appear to encourage violence towards protesters.
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