There are about 1.1 billion users on Facebook, a number that is always increasing.Users can choose to “like” any page they want, and while most of these pages are your run-of-the-mill pages for your favorite TV series or breakfast cereals, there are some that would make most people cringe and many that would cause downright outrage. Until recently, advertisers had no control over which pages their ads ended up on – perhaps Facebook’s largest social media marketing blunder.

Social media sites like Facebook rely heavily on advertising for revenue. And since social media is an important part of everyday life for most people, social media sites have found themselves with a responsibility to its advertisers – they must provide them with a safe space to sell their products. But it took Facebook a long time to realize this.

Facebook right now is scrambling to get back some of the advertisers who have recently questioned their relationship with the social media giant. A few multinational advertisers like Nissan and Nationwide, along with several smaller advertisers, have decided to suspend campaigns with Facebook in order to prevent their advertisements from being displayed on pages with offensive content. Pages that promote violence against women, gays, blacks, and others seem to be appallingly popular on Facebook, and any decent brand would not want their name associated with such content.

Of course, Facebook is not the only advertising venue that presents this issue. Retargeted ads in particular can end up wherever your target audience happens to go – from the latest cat video hub to a site honoring Hitler youth. It’s a risk that advertisers often have to take in order to reach the right people. But Facebook has a greater ability to regulate, and as such, should do so in the quickest manner possible.

Facebook’s Sarah Feinberg, director of policy communications, has declined to offer any details on policy changes, but has given evidence of significant changes to be made in the near future. Facebook already has a policy that ads will not appear on pages that are flagged as controversial. However, the only way a page can be flagged is if it is reported as such. Of course, not all of the offensive pages are reported, and so some ads slip through the cracks.

Several groups have been started with the goal of getting Facebook to provide better training for its employees so that pages with offensive content can be removed. Facebook has made it clear that it will take all measures necessary to fix this problem.

Social media giants like YouTube and Twitter have provided advertisers with the ability to better control where their ads appear. You can bet that Facebook will be soon to follow. While measures are being taken to provide a safer environment for advertisements, the problem of hate speech and offensive content in social media will never be completely gone. It’s impossible to remove every piece of content that may be considered offensive, but it is still the responsibility of social media sites to provide its users and advertisers with a safe space when they enter the social media world. It will be interesting to see how quickly Facebook remedies this situation.