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Facing the facts of the Facebook rebellion

Ad Age looks back on July’s Facebook ad boycott to see what’s changed. Many brands and agencies, out of the more than 1,000 that joined the movement, say they are ready to return now that Facebook has a plan of action in place.

Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s VP of global business solutions, tells Ad Age that the company is on the right track and has promised its closest partners a “set of deliverables, which we have sent out … to many, many clients. They have the timeline in their hands and I’ve said to them, ‘hold us accountable.’”

The Stop Hate for Profit boycott started as a way to pressure Facebook into being tougher on what the civil rights groups considered hate speech and disinformation. Ad Age talked with advertisers that say it is going to be tough for some of the brands to now walk back and say, “problem solved.” One major marketing exec for a top brand, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, even suggested those boycotting brands are now “screwed.”

But Facebook is confident that it is about to implement some of the strictest brand-safety protocols in the industry, with audits of its progress and closer work with groups like the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.

Meanwhile, Everson tells Ad Age in an interview published today: “That is my job, my job is to be the face of Facebook to the industry, and take their feedback, get their feedback, go back into the company, ensure that we have the right actions in place. So I can go and look people in the eye that I have known for 20-plus years and say we’re committed and we’re on this and here’s the timeline.”