The Advertisers Association of Nigeria said it aligned with the World Federation of Advertisers that all brands globally should hold social media platforms liable for failure to block dangerous and hateful contents.
Folake Ani-Mumuney, WFA Regional Vice President for Africa and ADVAN President, said the call to action reflected the fact that the challenges could not be addressed by one country alone, but required global action.
A statement in Lagos on Friday said Ani-Mumuney made the call at WFA Global Marketer Conference in Lisbon.
She stressed the need for companies, as funders of the online advertising system, to put pressure on social media platforms to improve on preventing their services and algorithms from being hijacked by people with malicious intent.
She said: “The call comes after multiple incidents on some of the world’s biggest digital platforms, including paedophile comments being left in comments below videos of children on YouTube.
“The glorification of self-harm and suicide content on Instagram and, most recently, the live-streaming of the terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Facebook.
“All these platforms are funded by advertisers, and as such, those that make them profitable have a moral responsibility to consider more than just the effectiveness and efficiency they provide for brand messages.”
Ani-Mumuney also stressed that improving the online ecosystem was a top priority for WFA members.
She said: “47 per cent of respondents to a WFA member barometer conducted in March for more than 200 senior marketers from over 100 brands representing $125 billion in ad spend was cited in improving the online advertising ecosystem as the single biggest issue the marketing industry needed to address.”
Stephan Loerke, Chief Executive Officer, WFA, said marketers must reflect on the extent and terms on which they funded social media platforms.
“Conversely, the platforms must do more to assuage the growing number of advertisers’ concerns,” she said.
Loerke said WFA was committed to working with platforms in a constructive manner toward finding solutions to these grave problems.
She said the shared goal must be to build an ecosystem that was sustainable and does not undermine people, communities and the society at large.