Organizers of the Facebook boycott acknowledge that while previous efforts to change Facebook’s platform have fallen short, the national focus on racial injustice has put a spotlight on all aspects of life, including social media.
The groups have held private discussions with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot ZuckerbergBen & Jerry's is latest company to join Facebook advertising boycott Patagonia becomes latest company to pull ads from Facebook The North Face pulls ads from Facebook MORE for years about how to improve the way the platform deals with racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic, white supremacist and otherwise violent content.
Outerwear companies, including Eddie Bauer and Arc’teryx, were some of the first to join, pledging to stop buying advertisements on Facebook and Instagram for July.
David Kirkpatrick, author of “The Facebook Effect” and founder of Techonomy, called the potential of the boycott campaign “historic.”.
Facebook said it will continue to work with companies and civil rights groups on how to improve its platform.
Sarah Miller, director of the American Economic Liberties Project and co-director of Freedom from Facebook and Google, said Facebook is unlikely to budge without regulatory changes.
“I don’t think the boycott for the month of July will be material for Facebook,” said Ali Mogharabi, a senior equity analyst at investment research firm Morningstar. »