Mark Zuckerberg Shrugs Off Facebook Advertiser Boycott
The 500 companies who have pulled their advertisements “will be back” before long, the Facebook CEO said.
According to a report by tech news website The Information, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is not planning a major response to the now 500-strong advertiser boycott of the social media platform, seeing the #StopHateForProfit campaign as more of a PR issue than a genuine threat.
“My guess is that all these advertisers will be back on the platform soon enough,” Zuckerberg said in a private meeting with staff on Friday – comments which Facebook later confirmed as accurate. He also referred to the boycott as a “reputational and partner issue”.
As previously reported, a growing list of major companies and brands have made the decision to pull their advertisements from Facebook following the platform’s reluctance to alter its policy on moderating hate speech on the site. The campaign “#StopHateForProfit” was begun by a coalition of civil rights groups urging companies to end their association with Facebook until it meaningfully updates its policies.
Significant brands involved in the boycott include Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Honda, Unilever, PlayStation, The North Face and Levi Strauss. However, according to a CNN analysis, only three of Facebook’s twenty-five highest-spending advertisers have pulled their ads – these three companies being Microsoft, Pfizer and Starbucks.
Facebook has confirmed that Zuckerberg will meet with the organisers of the boycott early next week.
