#STOPHATEFORPROFIT
Welcome to the mobilisation of the corporate world…in protest of Facebook. It feels like after a solid 12 months of citizen protests from Me-Too, Sustainability through to Black Lives Matters; the frustration with the current system is moving to corporate protests (I can’t say I’m angry about this).
Right on time, welcome to the reshaping of capitalism…target number 1 - Facebook.
PROFITING FROM THE FIRST AMENDMENT
For those unfamiliar, Facebook has done little to nothing to eliminate hate speech and misinformation on it’s platform. According to CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt:
‘Advertisers who have seen their ads published against hateful horrible content on Facebook, racist anti-semitic poison, they are finally saying enough’.
And then there’s the fact that Facebook was arguably at the very centre of the Cambridge Analytic blow-up…or have we already forgotten about that.
Ok, before we go further, yes, Twitter has encountered similar pressure (not in terms of turning an election)…however they have taken action like even recently censoring the Presidents tweets which glorified violence. Which ultimately - as we all know - resulted in an even bigger fight between said president and Twitter.
Unlike Twitter, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he would champion ‘free expression’. Stating the company would not enforce the same choices as Twitter. Now, this argument cuts to the very heart of the American ideal, the good old ‘Freedom of Speech’. It’s literally their culture and unlike Australia or the UK it’s written into their constitution…as the first amendment. We’re all familiar with said constitution…you know the one where the second amendment gives the right to bear arms. Yes, that one.
Now don’t get me wrong I believe in freedom of speech and the rights of the individual, as long as those rights are for the good of the whole. Yes, idealistic I know but what theory isn’t.
We live as members of a community and should therefore consider those around us in the decisions we make. It’s basic courtesy. Then at the most Buddhic level, we are all one. This seems to not be an issue for Facebook, who is arguably more obsessed with profit than anything else…including basic ethics, humanity or peace as a key part of society (ahem, Cambridge Analytica). One could argue they have a huge platform from which to create social reform…and yet they haven’t used it. It’s all very well to do the charity tap dance (with some nice tax benefits) , but that’s like being a petroleum company with a CSR report.
To quote Prof. Scott Galloway:
'Given all the failures that Zuckerberg and Sandberg have overseen, and the threat Facebook poses to democracy and civil society, they ought to be replaced’.
However just so we all understand Zuckerberg holds more than half of the voting power at Facebook. You think Trumps bad, at least he was ‘voted’ for.
WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION
Facebook could not have chosen a worst time to ‘not read its audience’. Given it has so much data on all of us, shouldn’t it be able to read the room a little better. Seems the answer is No. I think that requires EQ (not just IQ).
Facebook is operating in a society that is disgruntled, and fighting for greater equality. When it says it wants to keep ‘free expression’, the public and its advertisers see that as incredibly damaging to their own brands. Brands that understand their customer are becoming more progressive and they need to catch up.
This week a campaign platform #STOPHATEFORPROFIT (which is organised by the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP etc) called on advertisers to pull their spend from the platform in protest…and it worked.
To quote from their open letter (which was made public on the 25th of June) from the ADL :
‘What would you do with $70 billion?. We know what Facebook did. They allowed incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so many others. They named Breitbart News a “trusted news source” and made The Daily Caller a “fact checker” despite both publications having records of working with known white nationalists.
They turned a blind eye to blatant voter suppression on their platform. Could they protect and support Black users? Could they call out Holocaust denial as hate? Could they help get out the vote? They absolutely could. But they are actively choosing not to do so. 99% of Facebook’s $70 billion is made through advertising. Who will advertisers stand with? Let’s send Facebook a powerful message: Your profits will never be worth promoting hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism and violence.
Please join us.’
In response Starbucks, Diageo, Levis’, Pepsi, General Motors, Unilever, Microsoft (FYI this is Facebooks 3rd biggest advertiser), Patreon, Colors, Britvic, Coca-cola, Honda, Salesforce Verizon, Procter + Gamble, Adidas, Reebok, Best Buy, North Face, Chobani, Colage-Palmolive, Eileen Fisher, iHerb, Lululemon, Hershey, Walgreens, Viber, Patagonia and more announced they would pull their spend on Facebook + Instagram for the month of July. (FYI as of the 6/7 750 brands have joined this cause).
Fun fact: On the back of Unilever’s announcement Facebooks stock dropped 8.3%, taking US$56B in market value with it and taking $7B off Zuckerberg net worth.
“For years we and others have called upon Facebook to change, and they haven’t, they’ve really prioritised profits and reach over people and the safety of their users... everyone should be fairly protected when they use the platform’. Says Greenblatt.
Just to give you an idea of the implications of these shifts in budget. July could cost Facebook more than $250m - $500m in lost revenue. Let’s be clear though the true cost is much higher than this. It’s the brand equity, the integrity of the platform and ultimately the consumer questioning of they really need to be associated with Facebook. As this fills up front page news, we all pay attention. Facebook relies on us having accounts, that is the basis of its advertising business. As it continues to operate in a reckless manner with less and less integrity for those it ‘works for’, it will cease to be able to grow users - leaving room for new competition perhaps.
Yes there have been revolts before, but there has never been such an active civil rights movement at the same time. To quote Mark Shmulik of Bernstein Securities:
‘The current environment is very different. It is very visible who is and isn’t participating in the boycott where brand silence equals being complicit’.
FACEBOOKS SHOWS US IT CAN’T READ THE ROOM
So what about Facebook’s response. Well it was underwhelming. Again showing they cannot or will not read the room. Or they’re hoping this will just disappear and they can keep their hate speech (aka not alienate any users) and their money (advertisers).
To quote Zuckerberg in his press release:
‘I am optimistic that we are going to make progress on these challenges, we’ll make progress on public health, progress on racial justice, and we’ll be able to do that while maintaining our democratic traditions around free expression and voting. I am committed to making sure that Facebook is a force for good on this journey’.
In essence Facebook will:
Apply their hate policy to ads (which misses the point quite a bit)
It will make it harder to spread voter misinformation in the few days before an election (but don’t worry it’s fine any other time);
If someone ‘newsworthy’ calls for violence they will be labeled - but still allowed;
They will work with a third party auditor on their community standards;
They are prepared to work with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media and The Media Ratings Council.
I’m going to finish with a quote from Jonathan Greenblatt:
‘It seems that Mark doesn’t really understand the problem, it isn’t that Verizon, Salesforce and P&G are pushing hateful ads, it’s that their ads are subsiding hateful content and voter misinformation.. we still have a long way to go’.
Welcome to the Tipping Point….and it’s only mid 2020.