Elijah Harris, SVP, Paid Social at IPG Mediabrands (New York) posted his view on Linkedin.
"As consumer demand for brands to step up increases, we’re calling on the industry and our client base to take a moment for self-reflection: are we holding ourselves, our media partners and our brands accountable? Not because it’s an opportune moment to do so, but because it is fundamentally the right thing to do. It’s time to ask: can we be doing more to create change?
Therefore, with Facebook’s content and community policies in the spotlight it leads us to ask the following questions:
- With Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook leadership taking an approach to the spread of inflammatory and misleading content on their platform that is increasingly at odds with employee feedback, civil rights experts and policies of other social platforms, are Facebook still fostering a space where brands can build trust and positive relationships with customers?
- Are Facebook abiding by their own mission statement to build community and bring the world closer together?
- Should we as marketers be leveraging the weight of our ad investments to hold Facebook more accountable to call for a change that would see Facebook take actions like their counterparts at Twitter and Snap?
- This week, articles are circulating on Adweek and the New York Times where marketers have publicly voiced their discontent with Facebook’s handling of incendiary content being amplified on their platform under the guise of “free speech”. Some advertisers have vowed to take a break from Facebook and its family of apps as a sign of protest and are calling other marketing leaders to action. Separately, the Media Matters Research Center has started drafting letters to advertisers asking them to rethink investing on Facebook.
If it weren’t for the audience reach and effectiveness of Facebook ad solutions, it’s likely the industry may have more permanently shifted investment away from the platform that has been the frequent subject of controversy and given one too many passes – from Cambridge Analytica, its role in election interference, to legal settlements over inflated video metrics. However, when it comes to building a digital media plan, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger are the platforms of choice, defaulted into media plans before alternatives are even considered.
Just as marketer action drove change in the way YouTube approached brand safety and protecting advertisers and the public, it is perhaps now incumbent on each of us to consider adopting the same approach for Facebook. Are we, as marketers, able to continue to trust a platform that abdicates its responsibility and is often in conflict with its own mission statement? Should it continue to be the default choice for marketers when certain Facebook policies seemingly stand in opposition of what is right? Moreover, when the content that flourishes on Facebook runs the risk of harming the very consumers brands are trying to serve?
I believe it is time to think differently as an industry, and hold Facebook accountable to driving faster and more positive change. Facebook must rethink how to curb the spread of content that incites violence and leads to divisive discourse. Mark Zuckerberg’s statement saying Facebook will review policies is simply not enough. It is time for Facebook to take a stronger stand, like Twitter and Snap, to stop the distribution of fake news and misinformation that threatens democracy. All of which is consistent with the obligations of a platform like Facebook, under S230 of the Communications Decency Act.
In a time when the public at large are asking our country to be better, advertisers must also look inwards and task themselves to do better and create necessary change.
I am encouraging marketers and agencies to take the following actions to hold Facebook accountable to proactively drive positive change in their policies and decision-making moving forward:
- Make a measurable commitment to re-allocate Facebook spend to partners that better align to a brand’s values and place human rights before profits. This can include BIPOC owned media partners as well as other social platforms.
- Contact your Facebook client solutions teams to voice your dissatisfaction with Facebook’s failure to act decisively in fact-checking disinformation on the platform and Facebook’s failure to hold those users accountable.
- End the practice of making Facebook the default choice when building digital media plans and invest behind companies that demonstrate behaviors aligned with your publicly stated corporate and brand values.
- Work with industry groups such as the ANA and similar to drive a collective industry voice and call to action on what changes are expected from Facebook.
- Recognize that our industry has a long way to go to realize diversity and inclusion efforts. Pair this drive for change and accountability from Facebook with a concrete action plan for equality and representation within your own organization.
I realize that not every advertiser circumstance will be the same and making this change may be difficult. That said, the success that collective industry action has had in the past with platforms like YouTube demonstrates that advertisers can drive a change in behavior. It’s time to use our collective voice to bring about positive change at Facebook."
