Empathy Wines founder Gary Vaynerchuk discusses Constellation Brands’ takeover of his company following a surge in online demand for alcohol amid the coronavirus pandemic. He also believes that Facebook will not be the only social media company that will see its advertisers withdraw from hate speech.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reflected on the growing advertising boycott of his company in a video from the city council last Friday, and told employees that his “guess is that all these advertisers will be back on the platform soon enough.” according to a transcript of the meeting acquired by the information.
“We are not going to change our policies or approaches on anything because of a threat to a small percentage of our income, or to any percentage of our income,” he said, according to The Information.
A Facebook spokesperson told FOX Business that the company will not give in to an advertising boycott.
“We take these matters very seriously and we respect the comments of our partners. We are making real progress by keeping hate speech off our platform, and we are not benefiting from this type of content, ”a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to FOX Business. “But as we have said, we make policy changes based on principles, not income pressures.”
CVS JOINS BOYCOTT FROM FACEBOOK ADVERTISER, $ 70 BILLION HONEY JAR OF SOCIAL GALANTS TAKES ANOTHER HIT
This is far from the first time that Zuckerberg has expressed dismay at calls for more censorship.
“More and more, we are called to censor many different types of content that make me feel very uncomfortable. I think it seems that the list of things you can’t say socially continues to grow. And I really don’t agree with that, ”he said in January at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit. “We are going to remove the content that is really harmful, but the line must be maintained at some point.”
The “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign began last month to pressure Facebook to change its policies around hate speech. Hundreds of companies have joined in the past two weeks, and the advertising boycott officially began on Wednesday.
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Most of the anger centers on multiple posts by President Trump that Facebook has so far refused to censor, even though other social media platforms like Twitter have flagged them. In late May, Trump wrote “when the looting begins, the shooting begins.” More recently, he said that if people try to establish an autonomous zone in Washington, DC, they will encounter “serious force.”
Facebook announced a change in policy on Friday, saying they will now mark political content that violates their policies as “newsworthy” and leave it high if “the value of the public interest outweighs the risk of harm.”
But none of Trump’s comments on Facebook so far would have been flagged under this new policy because Facebook has an exception to the “discussion of the use of force by the state.”
“Nothing would be considered newsworthy because the newsworthy label only applies to content that violates our policies, and none of their previous posts violate our policy,” a Facebook spokesperson told FOX Business Friday.
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“Stop Hate for Profit” said Facebook’s policy updates are insufficient.
“Posts by someone ‘of journalistic interest’ who call for violence will be labeled, but will still be allowed despite the clear damage they can represent,” the group wrote in an update Monday.
Reuters reported this week that Zuckerberg agreed to meet civil rights groups soon, but it appears he has already decided that Facebook will not compromise.
| Heart | Security | Latest | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| full board | FACEBOOK INC. | 237.55 | +10.48 | + 4.62% |
“I tend to think that if someone comes out and threatens you to do something, that actually puts you in a box where somehow it’s even harder to do what they want because now it looks like you’re capitulating, and that sets up bad long-term incentives. for others to do that [to you] also, “he said Friday, according to The Information.
It is unclear how much the boycott will affect Facebook’s results. The social media giant says there are seven million active advertisers on the platform, and there are fewer than 1,000 companies that are currently part of the boycott. The company raised $ 69.7 billion in advertising revenue in 2019.
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