More significant brands join the campaign to stop their Facebook ad spend in July, as an objection about The Social Network’s languor to handle hate speech on the platform, Facebook has claimed that it has a deeper ‘trust deficit’ with ad companies, which it needs to handle.
A week ago, the alliance of civil rights started a campaign asking significant companies that advertise on Facebook to stop their ad spend to let the company know that its droop about hate speech is not satisfying.
As Facebook continues its failure to meaningfully address the spread of hate on its platforms we join @NAACP, @slpng_giants, @freepress, @CommonSense and @ColorOfChange in calling for a one-month ad pause for July. Facebook must #StopHateforProfit: /DjiGaZFgCk pic.twitter.com/orrKFcGw5R
— ADL (@ADL) June 17, 2020
The major concentration of the campaign is some new comments from US President Donald Trump that includes this post below, which Facebook has decided to leave on the platform for the public attention.
The campaign called for following what Twitter has done. And made it clear that there cannot be any discussion about that. Everyone has to be included even the president.
Starting the #StopHateforProfit campaign, The North Face promised its support, and now Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, and Magnolia Pictures have announced, in public, that they will stop their Facebook and Instagram spend in July as well.
It’s not a huge campaign of advertisers though, and it won’t harm Facebook in an income means. However, it will have intuitive impacts and could trigger a more adverse response from the platform’s partners.
Facebook knows this. This week, Facebook joined a conference call with about 200 advertisers, in which Neil Potts, Facebook’s Director of Public Policy said that:
“There is a trust deficit. You try to make a decision and people disagree and maybe that builds that deficit even deeper.”
Briefly, Potts has admitted that Facebook’s situation on political speech can influence the company. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has begun that it’s going to revise its method to contents like that, yet there is no change that has been applied.
Facebook’s planning to launch a Content Oversight Board, a pick of experts that will assist to lead the policy’s rules. However, that’s a few months as yet – and significantly, the Oversight Board won’t be in place ahead of the 2020 US Presidential Election.
That makes it more difficult for Facebook’s situation. Currently, Zuckerberg and Co are standing strong. Although Twitter’s kept pressing to put the rules. And although the government’s push to make laws that aim to secure social media platforms from responsibility about users’ posts.
Facebook holds to its principle rule – yet if more advertisers pause ads money, at some point, Facebook will be in danger, which is already started to happen, so it has to listen as soon as possible.
Generally, it seems like the #StopHateforProfit campaign will not have any significant, long-term effects. However, it is a winning movement. And given the extra efforts, it may force Facebook’s hand.
