Labour joins Facebook advert boycott over 'hateful material'

Labour is joining the advertising boycott of Facebook "in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement", one of the party's senior MPs has said.

Shadow minister Rachel Reeves told the BBC the party wanted "to express our concern about the failure of Facebook to take down some hateful material".

Companies including consumer goods firm Unilever have also joined the campaign.

Facebook has said harmful posts would be removed but some could stay if they have news value.

• Facebook to tag ‘harmful’ posts as boycott widens
• Parties splurge on Facebook election ads
• Was it Facebook wot swung it?

The Facebook advertising boycott was started by the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis.

The organisers, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, accused Facebook of allowing "racist, violent and verifiably false content to run rampant on its platform".

Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr, Ms Reeves said: "All MPs in the Labour Party use Facebook to get across our message, but what we're not doing at the moment is advertising on Facebook.