Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee during An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., the United States, on Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Organizers of the Facebook ad boycott vowed Tuesday to press on with their campaign, saying the social network's top executives had failed to offer meaningful action on curbing hateful content.

At a virtual meeting that included Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, the "Stop Hate For Profit" coalition leaders "didn't hear anything today to convince us that Zuckerberg and his colleagues are taking action," said Jessica Gonzalez of the activist group Free Press, one of the coalition members.

Rashad Robinson, president of the activist group Color of Change, told reporters on a conference call the meeting was "a disappointment."

Robinson said the executives "showed up to the meeting expecting an A for attendance," but that "we did not get answers to questions we put on the table."

The meeting was seen by Facebook as an opportunity to hear from boycott organizers and "reaffirm" a commitment to combating hate on the platform, a spokesperson told AFP.

"They want Facebook to be free of hate speech and so do we," the spokesperson said, noting steps the social network has taken to ban white supremacist groups and fight interference with voting or the census.

The meeting took place amid a boycott which has grown to nearly 1,000 advertisers pressing for more aggressive action from Facebook on toxic and inflammatory content which promotes violence and hate.

AFP