Starbucks to Pause Paid Ads Across Social Media

FILE PHOTO: A waitress prepares a beverage at a branch of Starbucks coffee in Tokyo, Japan, August 13, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A waitress prepares a beverage at a branch of Starbucks coffee in Tokyo, Japan, August 13, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
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Starbucks to Pause Paid Ads Across Social Media

FILE PHOTO: A waitress prepares a beverage at a branch of Starbucks coffee in Tokyo, Japan, August 13, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A waitress prepares a beverage at a branch of Starbucks coffee in Tokyo, Japan, August 13, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

Starbucks Corp will pause advertising on all social media platforms as it explores the best ways to help stop the spread of hate speech, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

The company will "have discussions internally and with media partners and civil rights organizations to stop the spread of hate speech," the statement said.

A CNBC report on Sunday added that this social media pause by Starbucks will not include YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet Inc's Google. It will continue to post on social media without paid promotion.

It also said that though Starbucks is pausing advertising, it is not joining the "Stop Hate For Profit" boycott campaign, which kicked off earlier this month.

More than 160 companies, including Verizon Communications and Unilever Plc, signed on to stop buying ads on Facebook Inc, the world's largest social media platform.



Poachers Have Killed over 100 Rhinos in South Africa This Year

A rhino, front, recovers from a tranquilizer, after a hole was drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in the country's northern province of Limpopo, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A rhino, front, recovers from a tranquilizer, after a hole was drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in the country's northern province of Limpopo, June 25, 2024. (AP)
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Poachers Have Killed over 100 Rhinos in South Africa This Year

A rhino, front, recovers from a tranquilizer, after a hole was drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in the country's northern province of Limpopo, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A rhino, front, recovers from a tranquilizer, after a hole was drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in the country's northern province of Limpopo, June 25, 2024. (AP)

Poachers in South Africa killed more than 100 rhinos in the first three months of this year, most of them inside national parks, highlighting an ongoing battle to protect one of the best-known endangered species.

South African Environment Minister Dion George announced the figures Monday and said that of the 103 rhinos killed between Jan. 1 and March 31, 65 were poached in national parks.

The average of more than one rhino killed a day is in line with last year's count and “a stark reminder of the relentless threat to our wildlife,” George said.

South Africa has the largest rhino population in the world, with an estimated 16,000 to 18,000 animals, according to conservation groups. That includes black and white rhinos.

Black rhinos are only found in the wild in Africa and are listed as critically endangered with around 6,400 left, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Around 2,000 are in South Africa.

South African authorities have focused in recent years on criminal syndicates they believe are behind much of the country's rhino poaching.

The environment ministry hailed a conviction last year of what it called a poaching “kingpin” from Mozambique. Simon Ernesto Valoi was sentenced to 27 years in prison by a Mozambique court for running an operation poaching rhinos in South Africa's huge Kruger National Park, which borders Mozambique.