The associations behind the huge advertising boycott against Facebook emerged "disappointed" from a meeting with its bosses and even more determined to galvanize the hundreds of brands that are asking the social network to better fight hateful and harmful content. "I am very disappointed that Facebook continues to refuse to be responsible towards its users, its advertisers and society in general," said Jessica Gonzalez, co-president of the association Free Press, after the videoconference interview with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO, and his number two Sheryl Sandberg.
"More dialogue and no action"
"I was hoping to see humility and deep reflection on Facebook's disproportionate influence on public opinion, beliefs and behavior, as well as the many harms it has caused in real life. Instead what we were entitled to more dialogue and no action, "said Jessica Gonzalez in a statement.
The organizers therefore promised that the boycott, already followed by nearly 1,000 companies (including Adidas, Levi's, Coca-Cola, Starbucks ...) would continue as long as Facebook made "no commitment to act" against the content that promotes racism, discrimination and hatred. The #StopHateForProfit movement was launched a few weeks ago by African American civil rights organizations and against anti-Semitism, amid protests against racism and police violence across the country.
They claim in particular a post of referent on civil rights at Facebook, audits, reimbursements to advertisers whose ads have rubbed shoulders with content that was then withdrawn, the creation of teams of online harassment experts or even the withdrawal of all public and private groups dealing with white supremacy, anti-Semitism, violent conspiracy theories, denial, vaccine misinformation and climate skepticism.
Facebook highlights its moderation efforts
Facebook, for its part, highlighted all the efforts undertaken for more than two years in terms of moderation of problematic content and the fight against disinformation. The associations "want Facebook to be rid of hate content and so do we," said a spokesman for the California giant after the meeting. "We have invested billions of people and technology to make it happen. We have created new regulations to prohibit interference with polls or the census and we have launched the largest election information campaign in American history" .
The four associations hoped for a return on their recommendations, presented to Facebook "3 weeks ago". But "we had nothing at all," said Jonathan Greenblatt, the boss of the Anti-Defamation League. "They talked about 'nuance', they told us that they were 'on the way', that they were improving, that they were almost there," he told a press conference. . "But Starbucks wouldn't say, 'we're on the right track, 89% of our coffees don't contain toxins'!"