Facebook has 8 million advertisers. Well, something like 7,999,997—and dropping. Three more big names have said they would join a Facebook ad boycott for the month of July and potentially longer. Ben & Jerry's, Eddie Bauer, and Magnolia Pictures are now on board, joining Patagonia, the North Face, and REI. The companies are protesting the social network's handling (or lack thereof) of hate speech on the platform. The New York Times reports those new names were added to the list on Tuesday, the same day Facebook presented to advertisers at the annual NewFronts, where digital media companies pitch themselves to brands; the Times called Facebook's presentation "upbeat" and noted it did not touch on the boycott. More:
- But the company did apparently reach out to some of its biggest advertisers. The Times obtained an email sent last week that read in part: "There are competing pressures every day when managing a platform. Our focus is to act on what is most important: removing hate speech and content that harms communities while using our platform for efforts like providing authoritative voting information and registering people to vote.”