The North Face Halts Facebook Ads, Urges Anti-Racist Policy

(Bloomberg) -- The North Face, the sports and outerwear brand owned by VF Corp., said it’s ending paid advertising on Facebook over concern the social-media company is allowing racist content and disinformation to propagate.

“We know that for too long harmful, racist rhetoric and misinformation has made the world unequal and unsafe, and we stand with the NAACP and the other organizations who are working to #StopHateforProfit,” the company said in an emailed statement following a Twitter posting.

REI Co-Op, which also sells sporting gear, and Upwork Inc., an online recruitment services provider, said they will suspend advertising in July.

Facebook and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg have come under fire for failing to stop the spread of political disinformation and allowing violent or hateful rhetoric to thrive on the site. While Facebook has pulled some campaign ads for President Donald Trump, the site hasn’t taken action on other posts that were removed from social media platforms such as Twitter.

Civil-rights groups including the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League have called for advertisers to pull their money from Facebook in July.

(Adds REI and Upwork are also suspending Facebook advertising in third paragraph.)

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