An advertiser backlash against Facebook fueled by growing disillusionment over the company’s inability or lack of interest in curbing hate speech and racism on its platform is gaining momentum. 

Verizon last week became one of the largest companies to pull advertising from Facebook and Instagram after a group of organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Color of Change, Free Press, and Common Sense, pleaded with large advertisers “to show they will not support a company that puts profits over safety.”

The decision came after the Anti-Defamation League penned an open letter to Facebook advertisers noting that it “found an advertisement for Verizon appearing next to a video from the conspiracy group QAnon drawing on hateful and antisemtic rhetoric, warning that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is planning to bring on civil war with concentration camps and coffins at the ready and claiming Americans are already quarantined in militarized districts.”

The advertising boycott was originally envisioned as a pause for the month of July, but has since expanded in scope and gone global. Verizon did not state how long its boycott will last, but John Nitti, the company’s chief media officer told CNBC that it will pause advertising “until Facebook can create an acceptable solution that makes us comfortable and is consistent with what we’ve done with YouTube and other partners.”

Verizon’s two largest competitors, AT&T and T-Mobile US, have yet to comment on the uproar and ensuing boycott. Both companies have yet to respond to SDxCentral’s multiple requests for comment. The first of those requests was made four days ago.

Few companies in the networking, telecommunications, and software industry have joined or shared their perspective on the grassroots campaign to boycott advertising on Facebook, but some appear to have already done such without public comment. Axios earlier today reported that Microsoft suspended advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the U.S. in May and has since expanded worldwide.

Hate speech, disinformation, voter suppression efforts, and content that incites violence or inflames prejudices have been a mainstay of social media and video sharing platforms for the better part of the 21st century. Facebook, as the world’s largest platform, has been especially prone to these challenges and unable or unwilling to stop it.

“The backlash against Facebook is an unprecedented reckoning. That makes sense because the social justice movement that’s sweeping across the nations is an unprecedented reckoning,” said Adam Kleinberg, CEO at Traction, a San Francisco-based digital advertising agency.

“But will advertisers be more mindful of unintended consequences long-term? I doubt it. They’ll pause their spend, flex their muscle, get some incremental progress, and then go right back to it,” he said. 

“At the end of the day, they need to connect to consumers through digital. Facebook and Instagram are two of the best platforms to do that,” Kleinberg said. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly dismissed efforts to change its policies, claiming it would infringe on free speech or otherwise diminish the news value and public interest that members of the platform gain by learning what political and business leaders think about issues of social importance. 

However, as the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign gained support from more than 100 companies, including iconic brands like Unilever and Coca-Cola, Zuckerberg changed course and said the company will now prohibit hate speech in advertisements.

“I am committed to making sure Facebook remains a place where people can use their voice to discuss important issues,” he said last week. “But I also stand against hate or anything that incites violence or suppresses voting, and we’re committed to removing that content too, no matter where it comes from.”

Facebook has previously claimed that it uses artificial intelligence (AI) and human mechanisms to remove about 90% of the hate speech that gets on its platform, but it clearly hasn’t done enough to assuage the concerns of advertisers, particularly as protests against police brutality have gone nationwide during the last month.

“They do a lot to limit ads already and have taken steps to further those restrictions, but when Zuckerberg says, ‘We believe there is a public interest in allowing a wider range of free expression in people’s posts than in paid ads,’ he’s got a point,” Kleinberg said. 

“At what point do we transition from hate speed to limiting freedom of expression,” he said. “We wouldn’t allow our government to take away that right. Why should we expect Facebook to?”

It remains unclear how long the advertiser boycott campaign will last and the extent to which Facebook will rectify problems that led to this, but the lasting impact will likely be moot, according to Kleinberg. “Pressure works. Business has power. Facebook has already made incremental changes as a result of this boycott. Perhaps they will make more,” he said. 

“But, will this just be a pause? As long as Facebook, or Instagram, or TikTok, or Reddit, or YouTube, or anyone else has a massive audience, brands will inevitably pay for access to those audiences,” he said. 

At least 246 companies have confirmed plans to suspend advertising on Facebook, according to a running list from Sleeping Giants.