A long list of brands are boycotting Facebook ads, but they have not still removed the Facebook ads tracking pixels from their websites, and they are using the data to track people with Facebook so that they could target them with ads. It seems that the ongoing advertising boycott of the social media giant, is a bit of PR stunt.
Major companies announced to boycott Facebook ads in a protest around hate speech. However, The Telegraph reported that these companies are still feeding Facebook their consumers’ data despite freezing their advertisement on the social media platform.
Over 400 global companies have now frozen their spending, but they are still helping Facebook to spy on users. These brands are still using Facebook’s data harvested from 2.5 billion users across the globe. And this is the particular Facebook’s advertising business we should be concerned about.
It is of no doubt that CEO Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is not doing enough to tackle hate speech and misinformation on its platform. Why should Mark Zuckerberg do anything? Major advertisers such as Ford, Starbucks, CocaCola, Adidas, Microsoft, and Volkswagen, have not still removed Facebook tracking pixels from their websites and they are feeling compelled to do lip service to the cause in the ongoing round of Facebook-bashing which is misdirected.
Hosting Facebook pixels is one of the methods to continue working with Facebook despite all the superficial protestations. Facebook pixel is a piece of code that is added to the websites of these brands that harvest the data of Facebook users. Then, the companies use this data thoroughly by optimizing and targeting ads for existing as well as future audiences to push targeted ads in front of them.
Brands can even remarket to anyone who has even touched their sites in the past. This indicates the depth of business relations among Facebook and those corporations advertising on Facebook’s platform.
These insights shows that companies can achieve initial PR hit with the campaign, and then they can start advertising on Facebook whenever they want to. Retaining pixel data can be more valuable for some companies as compared to spending money on Facebook ads as these brands can share the data with other marketing giants such as Spotify or Google to target users with ads on other networks. Meanwhile its also important to note that brands and businesses were already pulling their ads from various platforms now anyway due to the coronavirus lockdowns.
Read next: A Survey Provides an Overview of Working from Home and Cybersecurity during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Major companies announced to boycott Facebook ads in a protest around hate speech. However, The Telegraph reported that these companies are still feeding Facebook their consumers’ data despite freezing their advertisement on the social media platform.
Over 400 global companies have now frozen their spending, but they are still helping Facebook to spy on users. These brands are still using Facebook’s data harvested from 2.5 billion users across the globe. And this is the particular Facebook’s advertising business we should be concerned about.
It is of no doubt that CEO Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is not doing enough to tackle hate speech and misinformation on its platform. Why should Mark Zuckerberg do anything? Major advertisers such as Ford, Starbucks, CocaCola, Adidas, Microsoft, and Volkswagen, have not still removed Facebook tracking pixels from their websites and they are feeling compelled to do lip service to the cause in the ongoing round of Facebook-bashing which is misdirected.
Hosting Facebook pixels is one of the methods to continue working with Facebook despite all the superficial protestations. Facebook pixel is a piece of code that is added to the websites of these brands that harvest the data of Facebook users. Then, the companies use this data thoroughly by optimizing and targeting ads for existing as well as future audiences to push targeted ads in front of them.
Brands can even remarket to anyone who has even touched their sites in the past. This indicates the depth of business relations among Facebook and those corporations advertising on Facebook’s platform.
These insights shows that companies can achieve initial PR hit with the campaign, and then they can start advertising on Facebook whenever they want to. Retaining pixel data can be more valuable for some companies as compared to spending money on Facebook ads as these brands can share the data with other marketing giants such as Spotify or Google to target users with ads on other networks. Meanwhile its also important to note that brands and businesses were already pulling their ads from various platforms now anyway due to the coronavirus lockdowns.
Read next: A Survey Provides an Overview of Working from Home and Cybersecurity during the COVID-19 Pandemic
