Canadian Banks Join Boycott against Facebook 

Canada's largest Banks confirmed on Friday that they have joined a massive boycott of Facebook initiated by US civil rights groups seeking to put pressure on the social media platform to take steps against hate speech.

Up to 400 brands pulled ads on Facebook in response to the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign that started after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

The Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, and the National Bank of Canada, as well as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will pause advertising on the US platforms in July.

Desjardins Group, Canada’s largest federation of credit unions, also said on its website on Thursday it will pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram for the month “barring any exceptional situations where we need to communicate with our members or clients.”

The Desjardins Group, Canada's largest credit union also said that it will pause most of its Facebook and Instagram ads for this month.

Meantime, Facebook said that it opened itself to a civil rights review and banned about 250 white supremacist organizations using artificial intelligence, which finds nearly 90% of hate speech before users report it.

The Bank of Montreal said that it continues  dialogue with Facebook concerning the changes it can make on their platforms to reduce the spread of hate speech, while the Royal Bank of Canada said One way to help clients and communities is to stand up to misinformation and hate speech, which spreads systemic racism.

Facebook Lost $7.21 Billion since the boycott started

It is noteworthy that up to 750 companies including Coca-Cola, Hershey and Unilever have paused their ads on Facebook and Instagram, in addition to over 200 advertisers joined in the past 24 hours.

As more companies join the movement every day, with the latest additions including Walgreens, Best Buy, Ford and Adidas, Facebook lost more than $7.21 Billion.

The U.S giant trading price dropped by 1.74% to record $233.42 per share after recording $242.24 in the end of July.