Some Facebook ads pulled over offensive content

Brett Molina | USA TODAY

Facebook is re-evaluating content on its social-network service after two major brands yanked ads that appeared next to photos and posts they deemed offensive.

Nissan and U.K.-based Nationwide are among the firms that yanked ads when they appeared adjacent to misogynistic content, the Financial Times reported.

Nissan spokesperson David Reuter says ads serving the U.K. version of Facebook have been halted, and the automaker is working with Facebook to opt out of placing ads globally on pages with offensive content.

Nationwide says it suspended Facebook advertising, but welcomed efforts to work out a solution with Facebook.

"As a responsible and trusted consumer brand, we do feel that sites like Facebook should have stringent processes and guidelines in place to ensure that brands are able to protect themselves from appearing alongside inappropriate content," Nationwide said in a statement.

Skincare product maker Dove, whose ads also were displayed next to what it called misogynistic content, says it's taking the issue "very seriously."

"We have been actively working with Facebook over the past few days to address the issue of gender-based hate-speech, and we welcome Facebook's commitment to take additional measures to tackle the problem," Dove spokeswoman Stacie Bright said in a statement.

Facebook says it 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," Marne Levine, Facebook's vice president of global public policy, said in a statement. "We need to do better – and we will."

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. They urged Facebook to classify content glorifying violence against girls and women as hate speech.

The letter referenced "groups, pages and images that explicitly condone or encourage rape or domestic violence or suggest that they are something to laugh or boast about."

"Facebook's response to the many thousands of complaints and calls to address these issues has been inadequate," the letter said. "You have failed to make a public statement addressing the issue, respond to concerned users, or implement policies that would improve the situation."

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