The #StopHateForProfit boycott now has more than 300 participants, and its organizers are also calling for an international expansion. At this point, Facebook has had little response to the boycott, and a vice president reportedly told advertisers that the company is making no policy changes due to revenue pressure. Surprisingly, even hundreds of big name brands running their ads for July might not be very successful in Facebook’s bottom line: According to CNN, only a few of the top 25 Facebook spenders have withdrawn their campaigns.
Either way, the focus of this campaign is not great for Facebook, a company that continues to struggle with its public image. It remains to be seen if the company makes concrete changes or simply tries to weather the storm. Last week, Facebook announced that it would add warnings to posts by politicians who break its rules, and also cracked down on accounts related to the violent “boogaloo” movement. But the response from boycott organizers has been tepid, suggesting that bolder steps must be taken to quell this latest controversy.
