According to research firm Pathmatics, Walt Disney was even the largest American advertiser on Facebook in the first half of this year. Unlike other companies, however, Walt Disney did not choose to withdraw from the world’s largest social network altogether, but only “drastically reduce advertising spending.” However, it is not officially known how significant this decline is.
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What is certain, however, is that the boycott by Walt Disney is another heavy blow to Facebook. At present, more than five hundred various companies have already downloaded advertising.
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Striking businesses include Lego, US operator Verizon, ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s, PepsiCo and outdoor equipment Patagonia and The North Face. You would also search in vain for ads from the Starbucks coffee network or the British-Dutch consumer goods manufacturer Unilever on this social network.
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Seedbed of problems
The companies, especially American groups defending human rights, which together support the Stop Hate for Profit initiative, called for an boycott of advertising. She protests against the lax approach to hate speech, harassment and misinformation. Facebook should be the breeding ground for these problems.
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For example, the non-profit ADL Defamation League said in an open letter to advertisers that it found a Verizon ad on Facebook alongside a video that contained anti-Semitic rhetoric from the QAnon conspiracy group.
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Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg made it known almost immediately after the boycott that the largest social network in the world will more strictly moderate the content of published posts. Hateful content in ads will be completely blocked and Facebook will alert users to problematic posts.
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Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg
Foto: Erin Scott, Reuters
Zuckerberg: Facebook will not change
Shortly afterwards, however, an open letter Zuckerberg addressed to employees began circulating on the Internet. And it is clear from it that the head of Facebook does not make much of the current problems. “I think all of these advertisers will return to our platform soon,” the head of Facebook said in an open letter to employees, saying that the boycott was actually a “reputation and partnership issue.”
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He was pointing out that Facebook has a large enough financial cushion to be threatened by the current problems. This is despite the fact that, according to the Bloomberg agency, Zuckerberg has already lost $ 7.2 billion due to the boycott of hundreds of companies, ie CZK 167 billion. At present, however, due to the larger number of striking companies, this amount will of course be much higher.
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But the head of Facebook is clear in his next strategy. “Under threats, we will not change our policies or approach to anything, whether it is a small or large percentage of our income,” Zuckerberg concluded. Advertising is the main source of income for Facebook, which, by the way, was one of the world’s 100 largest brands last year.
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