Facebook ad boycott campaign to go global, organisers say | Hacker News Reader

Facebook ad boycott campaign to go global, organisers say

uk.reuters.com

38 pointsthg9 comments

It will be interesting to see whether this is a 'real' boycott, or simply a convenient excuse for cutting ad spend. Alphabet (Google) is probably the most comparable company in terms of revenue sources, and their earnings were down 20% YoY for the first quarter. If Google's revenue is down by more than 20% as of their next report (by end of July), I think we can firmly say that the 'boycott' is just showmanship. I suspect this is the case, given the low fill rate for ad slots on Youtube right now.

It's just mass hysteria and companies who were going spend less anyway showing how socially responsible they are.

When these companies start advertising again in a few weeks there needs to be negative PR. I think a lot of them are only pausing ad buy's regardless of what facebook does. Sadly, I think the only real way to kill facebook is to cut off friends and family that use it,at least from all digital comms.

Why is it sad? If they offer no value and users move to an alternative or go off social media it will die a natural death. I mean the market will kill it. E.g. MySpace and others that came before it. They're not too big fail. To their credit they seem to be trying to extend their lifespan by buying would be competitors.

You underestimate how older people depend on FB,how much whatsapp is used internationally and the whole instagram addicted classes.of society. If FB can weathet it until 2021 presidential inaguration, advertisers will come back and if the big name advertisers don't come back, they'll shrink but still have a very large userbase like now that will still be targeted by many small players. I mean, internationally, some countries have cell phone data plans with a facebook only access tier! Thats how far reaching their influence is. They're not too big to fail but they are too big to fall the same way others fall. The election will determine their fate, and I have a feeling that's why Zuck keeps having private meetings with republican leaders.

It's purely insane, this one company can swing an election, which if it does, 75+ years of world peace will be undone,starting with russia and China invading neighbors. The UN security council is meaningless without america, china and russia acting independently.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23656620

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23646852

This is also impacting Twitter, ex: Unilever is pausing ad placements on Twitter too. Honestly I think Twitter is worse since there are so many anonymous accounts that harass/doxx others.

This is great, small business can get lower rates while big brands are busy signalling.

Oh, this whole "Boycott Facebook" movement is such a load of feces. Facebook isn't the problem. "Social Media" is such a misnomer; this is really just "people interacting" and where people interact, there's going to be arguments and different points of views and, yes, unfortunately some racism, hate speech, etc. Boycott human nature, not Facebook.

As for "profiting from hate speech": If some asshole decides to chant racial slogans in your town square and it draws a crowd and there happens to be a Geico ad on the bus stop behind him, does that mean that the town is profiting from hate speech (because the town sold that ad space) or that Geico supports hate speech (because it rented that space)?

Verizon is a bunch of hypocrites. They sell internet service (Fios and/or wireless) and devices (phones) that are directly used by people to post hate speech. By their own extension, they should boycott themselves.

Then you get these "guns don't kill people, people kill people" folk who don't apply the same argument to social media; "a communication platform doesn't propagate hate speech, people propagate hate speech".

If anything, Facebook is thoroughly impressive in its "genuine" content. A platform where, for the most part, Grandma and Neighbor and Classmate and Colleague and Teacher and 2 billion other people of all flavors can generally interact with minimum animosity. Name another commination platform at that scale that hasn't just essentially reduced to porn, prostitution, drugs, and selling body parts. We should be thanking Facebook for even attempting to connect people, against all odds.

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