Mark Zuckerberg loses $7 billion after companies boycott Facebook ads

CEO and founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has lost $7.2 billion after several companies pulled out of Facebook ads. The companies which have boycotted promotion on the social media platform include Unilever which said that it would stop spending money on Facebook this year. In addition, major brands like Verizon communication, Hershey’s which accounted for a large shared in the company's revenue have also backed off. Meanwhile, Coca Cola has also announced pausing all its social media ads for 30 days.

Shares plunged by 8.3 per cent

All this is has led to a plunge in the market value of the company with its shares falling by 8.3 per cent on June 26. Louise Vuitton's Bernard Arnault who overtook Zuckerberg to become the third richest man on the net is only behind Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Bill Gates. 

Read: Verizon Joins Ad Boycott Of Facebook Over Hateful Content

Read: Facebook Cites EU Report To Claim It Tackles Hate Speech Better Than Google & Twitter

In recent months, demands for boycotting Facebook has grown with rights group slamming the social media platform for not taking effective action against hate speech, racist posts, paid political advertisements with hyper targetting users. In addition, Facebook has also been pulled up after Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm based in London, used user data to target voters during the 2016 US Presidential elections.

In response to that, Facebook on Friday, June 26 announced new measures and a change in its policy to deal with hate speech and voter suppression in the lead up to the 2020 US Presidential elections. To fight voter suppression, the firm said, "During a pandemic when people may be afraid of going to polls, sharing authoritative information on voting by mail will be especially important. We'll be showing the Voting Information Center at the top of the Facebook and Instagram apps over the coming months." This will allow voters to discuss information around voting and will offer links to discuss the issue.

Read: Facebook To Flag Posts That Break Its Rules

Read: Facebook Announces Measures To Deal With Hate Speech, Misinformation And Voter Suppression