Here we go! We are kicking it off with the first edition of the #Uplift, your cheat sheet for what’s happening in socially-responsible advertising (in 5 min or less), and in this week’s selection:
1. Facebook #whistleblower revealed on 60 Minutes says “company chose profit over safety”
2. Social media #misinformation woes continue with a new IPG report
3. Expert take: David Murnick, brand safety veteran
Let’s get started!
It seems like Facebook can’t catch a break lately, even before the major outage on Monday. First, jeff horwitz of the WSJ revealed there’s a secret elite of celebrities and high-profile users who are exempt from the community rules, all the rest of us need to follow. A day later, revelations from “the Facebook files” showed that Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, an issue Facebook plays down in public.
Then this Sunday the whistleblower was revealed on 60 Minutes. Frances Haugen asked to work in an area of the company that fights misinformation, since she lost a friend to online conspiracy theories. “Facebook over and over again has shown it chooses profit over safety,” she said. Yesterday Zuckerberg broke silence, saying “the argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical”. On the flip side, there will be no algorithmic news feed in the #metaverse, right?
In between, this last week a new report from IPG Mediabrands and MAGNA Global delved into the scale of misinformation on Facebook and its peers, and where brands are most at risk https://bit.ly/3Baa93z
A few key takeaways:
1. Top platforms have focused on hate speech and child safety but have not properly addressed the proliferation of intentionally misleading content about elections, vaccines or climate change.
2. According to Joshua Lowcock, global chief brand safety officer at Mediabrands network agency UM Worldwide: “While some platforms have policies on disinformation and misinformation, they are often vague or inconsistent, opening the door to bad actors exploiting platforms in a way that causes real-world harm to society and brands.”
3. Perhaps the most troublesome finding is that “It is easier for a bad actor to spread misinformation organically about your brand than it is for you to market your brand”.
So what can brands do?
“Brands continue to find themselves in a difficult situation when trying to balance their #digitalmarketing initiatives on social media platforms against concerns facing their media buying principles and tolerance levels” says David Murnick, digital media and brand safety veteran. “The IPG report showcases the need for further transparency, controls and most importantly action by many of the social platforms. You can’t rely on partners to grade their own homework or trust they are always doing what they say they are doing.”
What are your thoughts? Have you come across any other news worth sharing? Let us know, and help grow the conversations on how to build a better industry!
