Boycott of Facebook ads

The racism issue has resurfaced around the globe following the death of a young African American, George Floyd, at the hands of the state police in the United States. Even today, the problem of racial discrimination in many countries of the world, including the United States and Europe, is still unresolved.

Launched in a Harvard dormitory in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has evolved into a purely business platform due to its popularity. Today, Facebook has over 1.8 billion monthly active users and millions of businesses on the platform. With this incredible scale, Facebook has found itself in the position of being the dominant player in connecting people to businesses via advertising campaigns.

Various businesses around the world have started using Facebook to introduce their products directly to the public instead of traditional media. Facebook now reigns as a king of advertising. Through this, Mark Zuckerberg became one of the richest persons in the world.

Recently, a large number of big brands boycotted Facebook ads after critics said that Facebook has failed to sufficiently police hate speech and disinformation on the platform. Consumer products titan Unilever also joined the list, saying it would pause its ads through the end of the year on not only Facebook but also its sister service, Instagram, in addition to Twitter.

In this regard, the founder Mark Zuckerberg loses $7.2 billion. Shares of the social media company fell 8.3 percent, the most in three months. More than 90 advertisers have now joined the boycott including Verizon, Patagonia, and Eddie Bauer.

The organizations accuse Facebook of being indifferent to posts inciting violence during the recent protests for racial justice, for designating conservative news site Breitbart News a “trusted news source,” and for failing to fight attempts to suppress voting.  

Facebook’s reaction to the hateful statements of political leaders was also regrettable. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has always said that it is the right of the people to read the statements of political leaders without filters. However, on many occasions, many human lives have been lost due to unrealistic content published on Facebook, and the company has not shown any special activity to stop the promotion of immoral and inhumane content.

Racial discrimination and oppression continue with other nations, including black people. However, the world is now trying to get rid of the epidemic of racism and the move by global businesses has paved a positive path.