• P&G, Facebook’s top advertiser is looking into a review that could be the end for some digital advertising at this time
• Unilever pauses Facebook and Twitter advertising for rest of 2020 due to ‘polarized atmosphere’ in U.S.
• Verizon is the biggest advertiser to join the Facebook ad boycott so far

As the campaign #StopHateforProfit gathers momentum on social media, an increasing number of brands appear to be heeding its call to stop advertising on Facebook next month. The initiative, led by civil rights groups, seeks to pressure Facebook into curbing hate speech and misinformation on the platform.

Facebook has had its fair share of scandals, but in the past, media buyers have said that the platform is too important to leave.

Now, things are changing, seemingly after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg refused to take down President Trump’s tweet about “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” It’s the same message Twitter flagged. But Facebook’s response (or lack thereof) has spiraled into the largest, public advertiser boycott in the company’s history.

Facebook put on an upbeat presentation to advertisers this week, the same day the clothing chain Eddie Bauer, the film distributor Magnolia Pictures and the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand announced that they would stop advertising on the platform through July.

Those companies joined Patagonia, the North Face, REI and others in a growing boycott that has targeted Facebook’s content moderation practices.

It feels like we’ve come to an inflection point,” said Stephan Loerke, the chief executive of the World Federation of Advertisers, a trade group. “There’s a growing awareness that this isn’t a brand safety issue anymore — it’s a societal safety issue.”

Facebook executives have tried to limit the damage. In an email sent to some of its largest advertising clients last week, obtained by The New York Times, the company said it had taken steps to mitigate the effects of potentially harmful speech on the site.

“There are competing pressures every day when managing a platform,” the memo said. “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.”

Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president for global marketing solutions, said in a statement that the company was in discussions with advertisers and civil rights groups “about how, together, we can be a force for good.”

“We deeply respect any brand’s decision, and remain focused on the important work of removing hate speech and providing critical voting information,” she said in the statement.

Most companies that have turned away from Facebook are not shutting down their Facebook accounts. They expect to return to buying ads on the platform after July.

He suggested that companies make a gradual separation from Facebook as they experiment with alternatives like Amazon, Snap or TikTok.

“They’re not doing a good job, and advertisers want better protections,” Mr. Lowenthal said of Facebook.

Facebook generates nearly all its revenue from advertisements. The research firm eMarketer expects that the platform’s ad revenue will increase nearly 5 percent this year.

Around the same time of Facebook’s presentation on Tuesday, representatives of some of the biggest companies that regularly advertise on the platform gathered online for a previously scheduled meeting to discuss its handling of misinformation and hate speech.

He added: “Facebook is a double-edged sword. You don’t want to support it, but you have to use it in order to reach a large audience.”

The backlash intensified late last month, as a flurry of misinformation appeared on Facebook amid worldwide protests against racism and police brutality. The company declined to take action against posts from President Trump — the same ones that Twitter flagged as misleading or glorifying violence.

In recent days, Facebook removed ads from Donald Trump’s re-election campaign that featured a red triangular symbol used by the Nazis during World War II. The company also announced that it would gradually allow users to opt out of seeing political ads. On Sunday, it acknowledged in a blog post that its enforcement of content rules “isn’t perfect.”

P&G review could be new bombshell for digital ad companies

Eyes are on the world’s top advertiser, Procter & Gamble (PG -1.3%), which says it’s undertaking a broad review of media channels to ensure its commercials don’t appear near content deemed offensive.

An update on that initiative today follows Unilever pulling its 2020 ad spending from Facebook (FB -7.1%) and Twitter (TWTR -7.6%) – and P&G making a similar move would land like a bombshell on digital ad budgets.

While the “Stop Hate for Profit” boycott campaign targets Facebook, P&G suggests its ad review isn’t necessarily limited to social media, the Cincinnati Business Courier says.

The company suggested it was taking review steps during a Wednesday presentation at Cannes Lions Live (running through today).

“The review is broad, comprehensive and ongoing,” P&G’s Damon Jones tells the Courier today. “We have not set a date for any specific decision, as many aspects of this are quite dynamic.”

“We’ve initiated a comprehensive review of all media channel, network, platforms and programs to ensure the content on which we advertise accurately and respectfully portrays Black people – and all people for that matter – and that we are not advertising on or near content that we determine is hateful, denigrating or discriminatory,” Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard said at Cannes Lions Live.