Facebook plans to bolster efforts to keep hate speech off its pages amid complaints the site allowed content that encouraged violence against women, prompting companies to suspend advertisements.
Nissan Motor’s U.K. unit and lender Nationwide Building Society halted some Facebook ads that could have appeared next to offensive content after the group Women, Action & the Media criticized the social network’s response to complaints.
Facebook, based in Menlo Park, Calif., said it will review guidelines for evaluating content that may violate its standards, and will update training for teams that review reports on hate speech.
Social-media services have surged in popularity by giving users leeway in posting comments, photos and videos. That freedom can backfire if members’ content pushes the boundaries of good taste, potentially turning off advertisers. The Simon Wiesenthal Center faulted Twitter in a report this month, saying that the microblogging service has helped spur growth in online forums for hate and terror.
“This should be a big concern for Facebook,” said Shailendra Pandey, an advertising analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media in London. The companies pulling advertising “bring in a lot of revenue each quarter.”
Facebook had $1.25 billion in advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2013, about 85 percent of its total sales. The shares fell 3.2 percent to close at $23.32 Wednesday in New York.
