Facebook to develop tools for advertisers to remove harmful content

Facebook said Friday it would develop “topic exclusion controls” on its platform to give advertisers tools to remove harmful content that appears alongside their ads.

The plan comes after companies including Coca-Cola and Starbucks boycotted Facebook in July for not doing enough to curb hate speech on its site.

Advertisers have long complained about the lack of action from social media companies to prevent ads from appearing alongside hate speech, fake news and other harmful content.

Facebook said in a blog post on Friday the controls would help advertisers define how their ads show on Facebook News Feed.

Facebook will carry out tests to see if the tools are effective. These tests are likely to last around one year.