Disney has reportedly slashed its Facebook advertising budget amid a big-business boycott of the social media platform

• Disney has slashed its advertising budget on Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• The news comes after more than 500 advertisers suspended ads on Facebook as part of an industry boycott of the platform over its stance on hate speech.
• Disney was the single biggest advertiser on Facebook in the first half of this year, according to analysis by research firm Pathmatics Inc.

Disney has slashed its advertising spend on Facebook and Instagram amid a boycott of the social-media platform led by civil-rights groups, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Sources familiar with the matter didn't say how much had been cut, or when the decision was taken.

The sources said Disney-owned streaming service Hulu had paused all advertising on Instagram, and one source said that ads for its cable network shows are unlikely to return to Facebook after the summer TV advertising lull, unless the social media giant changes its policies.

The Facebook boycott, "Stop Hate for Profit," was launched in June by a coalition of civil rights groups including the NAACP, Color of Change, and the Anti-Defamation League. It asks big companies to stop advertising on Facebook in an attempt to force the company to rethink its hate speech and misinformation policies.

A series of high-profile advertisers including Coca-Cola, Dunkin' Donuts, Verizon, and more than 500 others have announced they are suspending their ads on the social network.

Disney has not officially announced any decision to reduce advertising spend, and was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Business Insider.

Analysis provided to the Journal by research firm Pathmatics Inc suggests Disney was the top advertiser on Facebook for the first half of this year, spending an estimated $210 million. It was the number two spender in 2019, behind Home Depot.

Leaders from Stop Hate for Profit met with Facebook executives including Mark Zuckerberg on July 7, and came away unimpressed.

In a press call, the groups said the meeting had been a "disappointment," and that out of ten recommendations they had put forward to Facebook, it had only partially addressed one: That the company should hire a C-suite level civil rights exec. Facebook said it would hire a civil rights lead, but did not commit to make them a member of the C-suite.