For the first time in its history, Facebook faces an organized boycott of advertisers that will begin on July 1. It’s not small business, either: Big corporations, including Hershey, Honda, and Verizon, have stopped spending. The goal of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign is to pressure the social media giant to change the way it handles hate speech and disinformation, even often incendiary posts of President Trump. The companies agree to stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram for at least a month.
Some companies have taken the boycott one step further, by taking advertising from all (or most) of the social media platforms, not just Facebook, and that list includes Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Unilever. Microsoft has also suspended its advertising on Facebook, at least until August. So yes, it is a big problem. It has not yet been determined whether mining advertising dollars will have an impact, financial or otherwise.
Here’s what you need to know about the social media ad boycott and what it means. As this story continues to evolve, The edge It will keep this list updated as more companies register.
How did all this start?
A coalition of civil rights organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Color of Change and Sleeping Giants launched the campaign on June 17. They claimed that Facebook has allowed hate groups to thrive on its platform with many people joining extremist groups due to the platform’s own recommendation tools. An ADL study found that 42 percent of daily users had been harassed on the platform.
What they want?
The group has a long list of questions; Along with policy changes to prevent hate speech and update algorithms, the list includes hiring a C-level executive with a background in civil rights, conducting an external audit of hate and disinformation, offering refunds for advertisers when their ads are displayed alongside “troublesome” content; and provide bias training for human content moderators.
So what else are companies taking out of their advertising hiatus?
Do you mean you’re as cynical as The edge when it comes to the altruistic intentions of mega-corporate entities? Well, you may be doing something. Many companies set their ad budgets quarterly, and as you can imagine, the most recent quarter was ugly for many companies due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many were already looking to cut their advertising budgets in the coming months. So if they stop spending money on social media advertising, they are theoretically saving that money (or channeling it elsewhere), easing some of the pressure on their bottom line. If they get “earned” means and some goodwill from the deal, even better. Of course, companies may want to make a statement and do what they think is the right thing, you know. Perhaps.
But are some companies boycotting more than just Facebook and Instagram?
Yes, several larger companies, including Starbucks, Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Diageo, have announced that they will stop advertising on all social media platforms (Starbucks says it will still run YouTube ads), and Unilever said it would keep its ads to through the end of 2020 in the midst of a “polarized election period”. And not all companies boycotting Facebook are making the official promise; according to AxiosMicrosoft suspended advertising on Facebook and Instagram in May, and may continue to do so until at least August.
Will this make a difference to Facebook’s bottom line?
Well that’s the real question, isn’t it? An analysis by Fortune He discovers that it would take thousands of Facebook’s 8 million advertisers to make a dent. Last year, Facebook had nearly $ 70 billion in advertising revenue, which is why many analysts see the boycott as symbolic. And it is worth noting that according to GizmodoNot all brands involved in the boycott have said whether to withdraw their ads from the Facebook Audience Network, allowing brands to advertise in third-party applications using Facebook targeting data.
How is Facebook responding to the boycott?
Carolyn Everson, vice president of global marketing solutions at Facebook, said in a statement that the company respects the brands’ decisions and remains “focused on the important work of eliminating hate speech and providing critical feedback on the vote,” adding it was having “conversations with vendors and Civil Rights Organizations discuss how together we can be a force for good.” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company was imposing new restrictions on hateful content in ads, explicitly banning ads that promote racial divisions (but restrictions do not apply to unpaid posts).
Which companies have signed the official commitment so far?
These are the companies that have signed up for the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, which calls for stopping Facebook ad spending starting July 1. We will keep this list updated as more companies register.
- Ben and Jerry’s
- Verizon
- Patagonia
- The north face
- Hershey
- Sling
