Facebook Boycott and Data Ethics
By Joana Falcão. Posted on September 1, 2020
Facebook can be a huge platform for advertisers, as it offers great targeting opportunities. The social network’s way of accessing the consumers' ins and outs seems like an advertiser's heaven. But it has many flaws which have gone unchecked by an impartial third party on ad placement, hate speech, abusive behaviour and misinformation. And seeing the latest events we can say that nothing has changed (see this article for more details).
The fact that Facebook does not have a third party to moderate and audit what is and is not accessed is conflicting. How can the advertisers and the audience be sure that they are not sharing or viewing disinformation, or worse, associating their brand with hateful or inappropriate content? Recently, the Stop hate for profit campaign has brought to light this issue.
Many brands have been making great efforts to tackle racism with both declarations and actions, in order to make sure their investments are not fuelling hate and allowing extremists to gain traction. More than 1,000 companies boycotted Facebook, by terminating all ad investment on this platform, like Ford, Adidas, HP, Coca Cola, Unilever, Starbucks, Volkswagen and Mars.
Not only are brands more active in shedding their connections to flawed algorithms, they must also become more demanding concerning their ad placements and trafficking. In response to that Facebook is changing and establishing constant updates: vowing to establish a senior VP for civil rights, banning divisive ads, and be more aggressive in taking down harmful posts and posts on voter suppression.
Facebook started working with industry groups like the Global Alliance for Responsible Media and working on a civil rights audit. At the same time, the “boycott movement” helped raise the issue in a congressional hearing between ad industry representatives and Facebook leaders.
Facebook boycott might not be the end of Facebook, but it is a shift in methodology, increased awareness of ad placement and third party partnerships. This shift took a toll on the social media giant, but it may have caused more damage to the company’s reputation than to its bottom line. In a long term could also be viewed “as a publisher of ‘hate speech’ and other inappropriate content”. Many companies are continuing to pressure Facebook to change its course. For instance, the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s said it planned to keep withholding spending on product promotions through the end of the year “to send a message.”, as well as Beam Suntory and Coca-Cola have vowed to continue pressuring Facebook.
We can see that the movement has slowed down but it is still far from over. Since July the movement spread around the world: not only in USA as well as in Europe and other regions. And we can also see that many companies said they aren’t ready to return to Facebook’s platforms. There are still several doubts and fears regarding Facebook's third party, as well as the measures that Facebook is taking in relation to the matter. And whether it will comply with them.
In order to put pressure on Facebook, several giants have made decisions that, at least in the medium term, will impact this social media. Great examples are the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s said it planned to keep withholding spending on product promotions through the end of the year “to send a message.” As well as Beam Suntory and American Honda and Coca-Cola have vowed to continue pressuring Facebook (they haven't resumed advertising thus far). But the world-famous company Unilever, should be highlighted because it has made the decision to pause Facebook and Twitter advertising through the rest of 2020.
The boycott is really making a difference, drawing more attention to the discussion around toxic Facebook content. We know that it is an incredible data machine. But there are many other publishers and networks just as rich or richer, both in reach and insight. Using programmatic advertising, brands can have as much, or even more, varied data coming their way, with access to big Data like no other. It allows advertisers to have an omnibus data supply, no longer dependent on one source. Also, they have full control over and full insight into what is going on with their campaigns and are able to shape and twist any detail as it happens in real-time.
For companies that wish to steer away from Facebook there are other alternatives as efficient like Programmatic and Trading Desk agencies could be a wiser partnership/alternative. Not only do companies get control over purchases but every step of the campaign can be accessed in a transparent way, leading to better campaign results and data overview.