Over the last few days to an ad boycott of Facebook has joined several companies, including Ford Motor, PepsiCo, Adidas, Starbucks, Diageo, HP. And at the moment the first of such magnitude in all the years of Facebook-organized protest was signed by more than 200 companies and organizations. Shares of Facebook last week fell almost 9%.Advertising boycott that began almost two weeks ago and in the early days was almost imperceptible, in the last week began to gain momentum. Dozens of companies daily have declared that in the course of a month or more will not advertise in Facebook and Instagram in protest against the fact that the social network, in their view, not struggling with the spread on its platform of content conducive to hatred and enmity. Now the list of who joined the boycott, more than 200 companies, and, apparently, it will grow, because there are many reports that some companies are considering participation in this event.There is no place in our brand and in observitory largest U.S. car manufacturer Ford Motor has said it will withdraw its advertising in General, on all social platforms in the US for 30 days, and the rhetoric of hatred, violence and racial injustice in the content posted in social networks, “should be eradicated”. Since the beginning of the year, Ford spent $2.9 million on advertising in Facebook, of them for the last 30 days — $57 thousand Adidas and Reebok also will not advertise on Facebook in July. They reported, adding that “racist, discriminatory and hateful content have no place in our brand and in society.” Diageo refused from advertising in July in all social networks, and promised to discuss with partners measures to combat inappropriate content. HP, noting its deep concern about the existing problem, the company has already expressed Facebook said that it will not advertise in Facebook.Microsoft in 2019 was the third in terms of expenditure on advertising by the client Facebook (after Home Depot and Walmart), refused the advertisement in Facebook and Instagram in may, but at first only in the United States. Recently the company expanded this refusal on the Facebook platform around the world, explaining this is a serious concern because the ads appeared next to content promoting hatred or supporting terrorism. The company emphasizes that is not part of the advertising boycott. However, given that only one in 2019 Microsoft has spent nearly $116 million on advertising in Facebook, its rejection of advertising can be substantial for the social network.Facebook advertising boycott began on June 17 on the initiative of a group of large and influential human rights organizations, including the anti-defamation League (ADL), the national Association for the advancement of colored people (NAACP), the organization Color of Change, Association of Free Press and Common Sense, a group of mediaactive Sleeping Giants. Amid large-scale protests in the U.S. and the world against racism and racial inequality they have launched a campaign to Stop Hate for Profit and appealed to business “to show solidarity and to support our most important American values — freedom, equality and justice — not to advertise on Facebook in July.”According to the organizers of the campaign, Facebook “unfair” policy on publishing content, exciting hatred and enmity, false and misleading. At the same time, they say, advertising companies often is the social network right next to such content, and plays the same amount on the platform, and pages, for example, recruiting supporters of extremism, etc. among the requirements of the organizers of the campaign: change in Facebook policy against hate speech content, improving of algorithms of selection of such content, include representatives of the leadership of expert on civil rights, an independent verification on the deployment of “problematic” content, compensation advertisers whose ads were placed next to such content, etc. of the human rights organization trying to achieve from Facebook change the situation, but, according to them, still “leaves negotiations, received in response to some fuzzy terms, shrug or empty promises”. The appeal to advertisers was more effective measure.According to the organizers of the campaign, something incredible happened: they finally managed to attract the attention of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg on 26 June made a statement that Facebook will now be marked potentially harmful content and ban advertising publications containing allegations “that people of a particular race, ethnic or national origin, religious beliefs, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity or immigration status pose a threat to other people.” But experts disagree about the effectiveness of the boycott. As stated by Newsweek drew Benji, researcher and founder, Battenhall, a boycott “would be a stain on the brand’s Facebook and in the eyes of the public, and financial.” But more serious consequences can be expected only if the boycott will become global, he said. “Facebook should consider the current situation as the tip of the iceberg and act quickly. And if the boycott will become global, this will result not only in loss of advertising revenues: users will go to look for a more secure environment,” he said.At the same time, the expert on the media industry Matt Navarre in an interview with the same publication suggested that a boycott will not cause serious damage to Facebook. “Advertisers sensed slack and rush to finish off the victim. However, Facebook is likely to get l��nil minor injuries and public criticism. Facebook is the world’s largest advertising platform. Advertisers much faster will feel its lack, than he will feel real pain”,— the expert believes.Russian advertisers other sedacoron “b” market participants do not expect that began in the United States boycott massively affect the Russian advertisers. “What is happening in the US, events are useful for the apportionment of the budgets of the advertisers. Most of these statements — a reason to celebrate, to revise the budgets. To some degree there are ideological component. It seems to me that Russian advertisers another problem: they would survive. And it is unlikely they will this boycott to do,” said the former Advisor to the RF President on the development of the Internet Herman Klimenko.Major Russian advertisers are unlikely to refuse advertising in Facebook, predicts marketing Director “Rialveb” Maxim Samoilenko. The share of social networks on the Russian advertising market is insignificant, and the requirements to Facebook advertising publications in Russia are not as strict as abroad, he said. “Perhaps there will be individual cases when the advertisements are to refuse foreign brands, which are directly subordinated to their headquarters, but the weather across the entire market it will not do it,” added Mr. Samoilenko. “They received an order from headquarters. Redistribution takes place in different ways, as a year of crisis — that is, do not expect rising budgets in “Vkontakte” and “Classmates” on the size of withdrawals from Facebook. Budgets are frozen, transferred to deals in major seller, or even go for realization of original projects.”Internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev adds that the difference in mentality. “From the point of view of a businessman-American, he is a citizen who can dictate and lobby for the views. We have a business to more rigidly separated from the socio-political. In Russia it doesn’t work like that the business started to boycott advertising platform,” explains the expert.In Russian social networks claim to have effectively compete with content inciting hatred. Thus, the press service of “Vkontakte” reported that the removed materials inciting to violence and extremism, and other dangerous content, and community, and the pages spread them on a permanent basis, are blocked. The social network uses for this “hybrid method of moderation”: its employees respond to user signals and regulators, as well as conduct internal moderation, including through mechanisms for automatic search and removal of illegal content. “It concerns and fake news: we block users and network bots that organize mass mailings, restrict access to content that mislead, operative respond to user signals and regulators,”— said the representative of “Vkontakte”.In the “Classmates” also assured that the moderation team regularly checks public content on the subject of offensive and false information and responds promptly to complaints. If it is confirmed that the information is untrue or insults a user, said social network, access to content limited.Alena Miklashevskaya, Dmitry Shestoperov, Valery Lebedev, Anna Afanasyeva
