By Marko Vidrih on The Capital
Mark Zuckerberg became poorer by $7.2 billion after a number of companies announced a boycott of social media ads. Facebook shares fell 8.3% on Friday, the highest level in three months. This happened after one of the world’s largest advertisers, Unilever, joined other brands in boycotting Facebook ads.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the fall in stock prices led to Facebook’s market value dropping by $56 billion and Zuckerberg’s fortune dropping to $82.3 billion, leaving Facebook founder to leave the top three richest people on the planet.
On June 17, activists of several public organizations at once urged brands to stop advertising on Facebook. Social networks are accused of failing to protect users from hateful rhetoric. Facebook is allegedly not struggling enough with incitement to protesters, racism, hatred, and misinformation in the run-up to the upcoming presidential election.
More than 10 major brands have already joined the Facebook boycott: Unilever, Coca-Cola, Honda Motor, PepsiCo, Verizon, Levi Strauss, Viber and others. Not only the brands themselves are boycotting Facebook, but also the agencies that work with them.
Facebook, in turn, reports on steps taken to combat hateful content. In particular, the social network has already deleted a series of advertisements for Donald Trump’s election campaign, believing that they are inciting hatred. Facebook will also accompany all posts on US elections with a link to a new voter information center.
Earlier it was reported that Facebook allowed users to completely remove from the impressions in the tape political ads that they do not like. The new feature will be available in the eponymous social network Facebook and the application for sharing photos Instagram, owned by the company.
Author: Marko Vidrih
Featured image credit: Unsplash
https://medium.com/media/3b6b127891c5c8711ad105e61d6cc81f/href
Facebook Boycott: Zuckerberg Lost Billions Amid Scandal was originally published in The Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Post fetched from this article
