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Businesses pulling ads from social media after mosque attack

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 19 Mar 2019, 7:29AM
Photo / Getty Images

Businesses pulling ads from social media after mosque attack

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 19 Mar 2019, 7:29AM

There are growing concerns from businesses over where their online advertising goes.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites have come under criticism for a lack of moderation following the Christchurch mosque attack.

Commercial Communications Council chief executive Paul Head told Kate Hawkesby social media, including Facebook, is funded by advertising.

"There is an increasing worry around what is an appropriate site for an advertisement to be on and ensuring ads only end up there. There have been concerns about ads showing up on terrorist websites, or other repugnant sites like those related to paedophilia.

"This is now a moral and human issue. Advertisers have begun to act quickly and carefully on how we support these sites."

However, Mr Head says New Zealand alone is too small to drive any change. 

"My fear is that boycotts in New Zealand won't drive the change we need, the reality is these global tech companies generate such a massive revenue from overseas, we are just a small drop in the bucket."

Kiwibank, ANZ and BNZ have suspended much of their digital advertising since Friday afternoon after news of the attacks broke.

Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos of the attack globally in the first 24 hours after the incident occurred and is removing all edited versions of the video that do not show graphic content.

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