Advertisements for more than 400 brands including Coca-Cola and Starbucks are due to vanish from Facebook on Wednesday, after the failure of last-ditch talks to stop a boycott over hate speech on the site.
U.S. civil rights groups have enlisted the multinationals to help pressure the social media giant into taking concrete steps to block hate speech in the wake of the death of George Floyd and amid a national reckoning over racism.
Facebook executives including Carolyn Everson, vice president of global business solutions, and Neil Potts, public policy director, held at least two meetings with advertisers on Tuesday, the eve of the planned one-month boycott, three sources who participated in the calls told Reuters.
But the executives offered no new details on how they would tackle hate speech, the sources said. Instead, they pointed back to recent press releases, frustrating advertisers on the calls who believe those plans do not go far enough.
"It's simply not moving," said one executive at a major ad agency of the conversations.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to meet with the organizers of the boycott, a spokeswoman said late Tuesday.
U.S. civil rights groups including the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP and Color of Change started the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign after the death of Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a white police officer last month.
The groups outlined 10 demands for Facebook including allowing people who experience severe harassment to speak with a Facebook employee and giving refunds to brands whose ads show up next to offensive content that is later removed.
Facebook said earlier this week it would submit to an audit of its hate speech controls, adding to plans to label newsworthy content that would otherwise violate its policies, following similar practices at other social media platforms such as Twitter Inc.
One digital ad agency representative who participated in a call on Tuesday said Facebook executives referred repeatedly to the audit, without offering additional concessions.
Facebook executives have reached out to chief executives, board members and chief marketing officers of major advertisers to talk them out of the boycott, two people briefed on the discussions told Reuters. All the sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
ADVERTISING TEST
The boycott will be a test for advertisers on how to reach billions of consumers without relying on the largest social media platform in the world, an executive at a major ad agency said.
Companies that run ads in order to promote their brand image rather than to make direct sales are less beholden to Facebook. Many of these, including the multinational advertisers who have joined up with the boycott, will begin to plot how they can achieve the same goals without Facebook, the executive said.
For Facebook, the boycott is unlikely to have a big financial impact. The top 100 brands on Facebook in 2019 likely brought in only 6% of Facebook's total $70 billion in annual revenue, according to a Morningstar research note citing Pathmatics data, which measures most types of advertising on the platform. Facebook said last year its top 100 advertisers accountED for less than 20% of total ad revenue.
News of the boycott wiped away $56 billion from Facebook's market capitalization after an 8% drop in its stock on Friday. But shares recovered 3% on Tuesday and are actually trading 8% higher year to date.
ZUCKERBERG PRESENCE
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg last week asked to meet with the campaign organizers along with Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, Zuckerberg's long-time friend, who returned to Facebook this month after resigning over the company's direction last year.
The civil rights groups insisted Zuckerberg also be at the table, with Anti-Defamation League Chief Executive Jonathan Greenblatt noting that as CEO, chairman and the company's largest shareholder, "he is the ultimate authority."
The Facebook spokeswoman said late Tuesday that the company had confirmed that Zuckerberg would join the proposed meeting.
"We're waiting to hear back and look forward to the opportunity to continue the dialogue,” she said.
Reuters
Wed Jul 01 2020
Attendees walk past a Facebook logo during Facebook Inc's F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., April 30, 2019 - REUTERS/Stephen Lam
Lebih 14,000 aduan diterima menerusi aplikasi MYJalan setakat ini - Ahmad Maslan
KKR juga telah menyelesaikan 86 peratus daripada 3,766 aduan diterima menerusi aplikasi itu setakat ini.
AWANI Pagi: Apa Erti Sebenar Cakna Autisme?
Bulan Kesedaran Autisme disambut setiap tahun pada bulan April, untuk meningkatkan kesedaran umum berkenaan diagnosis tersebut. Sejauh mana cakna masyarakat mengenai autisme setakat ini? Ikuti diskusinya dalam Awani Pagi 7.30 pagi Khamis bersama Afiezy Azaman & Azib Zikry.
KPT salur bantuan pendidikan, pengecualian yuran IPT anak mangsa nahas helikopter
KPT melalui PTPTN akan menyalurkan sebanyak RM1,000 seorang kepada 21 anak mangsa nahas dua helikopter yang terhempas di Lumut.
[LAPOR LANGSUNG] Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Kapal sedia belayar Jumaat ini - FFC
FFC mengesahkan sudah melengkapkan segala keperluan bagi membolehkan misi pelayaran Jumaat ini.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Semua keperluan sudah dilengkapkan, kapal sedia belayar Jumaat ini - FFC
Ia termasuk keperluan teknikal dan 'crewing' yang merujuk kepada proses menyediakan dan menguruskan ahli kru.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Ideologi Nelson Mandela wajar dicontohi dalam misi capai keamanan - Cucu
Menurut Manlda Mandela, datuknya pencinta keamanan dan bukan seorang pendendam walaupun selepas berjaya mengalahkan rejim apartheid.
Kontroversi UM: Bukan untuk sekat kebebasan universiti - Zambry
Kebebasan yang diberi perlu mengambil kira polisi serta pendirian kerajaan di samping sensitiviti masyarakat dan majoriti rakyat.
Pelan strategik pendigitalan akan dikemaskinikan selari transformasi digital - Wilson
Pelan strategik pendigitalan akan dikemaskinikan selari dengan transformasi digital, kata Timbalan Menteri Digital Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong.
Kekejaman zionis: Gaza lepasi ambang kebuluran enam minggu akan datang - WFP
Semenanjung Gaza bakal melepasi ambang kebuluran iaitu ketidakamanan makanan, kekurangan zat makanan dan kematian.
Kekejaman zionis: Halalkan penempatan haram di Tebing Barat berbahaya - A.S
Membenarkan penempatan haram di Tebing Barat akan menjadi tindakan berbahaya dan melulu.
Coca-Cola, GSC meterai perjanjian konsesi baharu, lanjutkan perkongsian lebih tiga dekad
Kerjasama itu menandakan satu pencapaian kolektif yang penting serta melambangkan kepercayaan dan komitmen kukuh antara satu sama lain.
Euro 2020: Ronaldo tolak tepi minuman tajaan kejohanan
Cristiano Ronaldo mengetepikan botol tersebut dan menyebut 'agua', sekali gus memberikan mesej kepada semua supaya tidak mengambil minuman yang mengandungi gula yang tinggi itu.
Boikot Coca-Cola hanya merugikan pekerja tempatan - Pengurusan
Menurut Pengurus Coca-Cola Malaysia Ahmed Yehia, tindakan boikot itu juga akan menjejaskan semua pihak yang bergantung kepada rantaian bekalan jenama itu di Malaysia.
Coca-cola perluas kemudahan sedia ada di Nilai
Syarikat minuman, Coca-Cola yakin dengan prospek ekonomi Malaysia dan merancang untuk terus melabur di negara ini.
Coca-Cola nafi botol aluminium edisi terhad UEFA Euro 2016 mengandungi alkohol
Bahan-bahan dan proses pengeluaran yang digunakan dalam pengeluaran minuman Coca-Cola dikawal ketat oleh kerajaan dan pihak berkuasa kesihatan.
'Gila' redah kedai kopi kampung demi poster iklan Coca-Cola
Sam Hew, anak Kemaman,Terengganu sanggup meredah pelbagai kampung di pelbagai daerah demi untuk memenuhi 'kegilaannya' terhadap Coca-Cola.