Facebook, Twitter shares drop as European giant pulls ads
San Francisco: Shares of Facebook and Twitter dropped sharply Friday after the the giant company behind brands such as Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap said it will halt U.S. advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram through at least the end of the year.
That European consumer-product maker, Unilever, said it took the move to protest the amount of hate speech online. Unilever said the polarized atmosphere in the United States ahead of November's presidential election placed responsibility on brands to act.
Shares of both Facebook and Twitter fell roughly 7% following Unilever's announcement.
The company, which is based in the Netherlands and Britain, joins a raft of other advertisers pulling back from online platforms. Facebook in particular has been the target of an escalating movement to withhold advertising dollars to pressure it to do more to prevent racist and violent content from being shared on its platform.
We have decided that starting now through at least the end of the year, we will not run brand advertising in social media newsfeed platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the U.S.," Unilever said. Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Thursday, Verizon joined others in the Facebook boycott.
Sarah Personette, vice president of global client solutions at Twitter, said the company's mission is to serve the public conversation and ensure Twitter is a place where people can make human connections, seek and receive authentic and credible information, and express themselves freely and safely.
She added that Twitter is "respectful of our partners' decisions and will continue to work and communicate closely with them during this time.
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Thieves break into forest officer’s house in Ullal, decamp with bike, jewellery and ₹10.5 lakh cash
Mangaluru: Thieves broke into the rented house of a forest officer in the Kotekar sub-division of Ullal and stole a motorbike, ₹10.5 lakh in cash and gold and silver jewellery weighing about 181 grams, police said. The incident came to light on Thursday morning after Mehboob returned home from his native after nearly one week
The victim, Mehboob Saab Gudihola, had been living in the house with his wife and child for the past six months. According to the complaint, the family had travelled to their native place in Koppal on Friday.
The theft came to light when Gudihola returned home on Thursday morning and found that the house had been broken into.
In his complaint to police, Gudihola said the accused had entered the house through the main door and broke open cupboards in two rooms. The thieves allegedly stole gold and silver jewellery weighing around 181 grams, including ornaments belonging to the child.
They also took away ₹10.5 lakh in cash, which Gudihola told police he had brought home after availing a bank loan. In addition, a motorbike parked on the premises was also stolen.
Following the complaint, Ullal Police registered a case and launched an investigation. A dog squad and forensic experts visited the house and conducted an inspection.
