Social Media Platforms Getting A Backlash From Global Brands

Facebook has seen a downfall in its ad revenue with big global corporations pulling out their ads from social media platforms owning to the increasing hate speech on Facebook and Instagram. Not only this but along with the big corporation their Indian Arms have also been doing the same for over a month. The move to boycott these social media platforms has gained its speed when companies around the globe have decided that they will not avail of these social media platforms for their advertisements as they are in search of more accountability towards hate speech discrimination and misinformation. The issue gave rise to so much concern that companies such as Diageo, PepsiCo, Levi’s, and Coca-Cola have paused their paid promotion activities, on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

Levi’s, the well-known apparel brand that had earlier stopped its advertisement in social media platforms, is planning to resume its advertisement earlier this month. Company executives and brand experts are speculating that this disengagement is temporary in nature and brands would make a comeback, but it will take some time for things to normalize.

“This will continue for some time and one needs to see what action needs to be taken. Facebook does need to get its act together. They are getting into controversies too often; better stakeholder management is required,” said an executive at a packaged goods company.

The digital advertising market in India is growing at a fast speed and is estimated to reach 17000 crores with brands which are engaged on multiple platforms like Facebook, Google search, YouTube banners other than engagement in Instagram and Twitter, but there is still a concern which revolves towards the spread of fake news, hate speech, and content moderation.

As per a recent article in the wall street journal, the Facebook executive in India took the matter of hateful posts by the members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lightly, which made the Congress party inform Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the hateful posts and urged him to look into the allegations. On 1^st of July, Facebook blogpost, Nick Clegg, vice-president, global affairs and communications, Facebook, said that: “Billions of people use Facebook and Instagram because they have good experiences — they don’t want to see hateful content, our advertisers don’t want to see it, and we don’t want to see it. There is no incentive for us to do anything but remove it. Facebook does not profit from hate.”