Publishers Pull Their Facebook Ads

I’ve been covering the developing #StopHateForProfit movement, which called on advertisers to boycott Facebook in July or even longer, hoping the controversial social media platform would change its practices around hate speech, misinformation, disinformation, and political extremism.

In early June, I listed a number of publishers who were using Facebook ads. Then, about two weeks later (just over a week ago), I updated the list and added specifics, as it appeared more publishers were using Facebook ads than before.

Since then, pressure has increased on Facebook, which pledged some changes, while the list of advertisers participating in #StopHateForProfit has grown to include more than 425, with some big names — Unilever, Coca-Cola, Verizon, GM, Levi’s, lululemon, Target, Ford, Pfizer, Microsoft, Adidas, and Starbucks — joining the boycott.

As anticipated, something aimed at Facebook’s profits got Mark Zuckerberg’s attention — in addition to some initial promises, yesterday Facebook banned pages associated with another group of right-wing extremists.

Some organizations have chosen to remove ads from Facebook without explicitly signing on to the #StopHateForProfit initiative. Scholarly publishers appear to have adopted this approach, if what I found yesterday proves out over July.

As of 10 p.m. ET last night, three publishers (Annual Reviews [and their magazine, Knowable], the University of Toronto Press, and the University of California Press) have signed on to #StopHateForProfit, while dozens of publishers — including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and IEEE — have pulled or deactivated Facebook ads in the past week.

Here are the updated statuses. I’ll check back in July now and then to see if these were just coincidences, or if these were purposeful choices inspired by the boycott.

Stated Boycott Participants

• Annual Reviews — Signed on to the #StopHateForProfit list of committed firms, no ads running. As of June 23, had two ads running — started June 21 and June 22, 2020.
• University of California Press — I’ve not seen them advertise on Facebook, so it appears they’re joining to show where they stand.
• University of Toronto Press — Signed on to the #StopHateForProfit list of committed firms, no ads running. As of June 23, multiple ads, the most recent started June 12, 2020.

No Current Advertising, Were Running Ads June 23rd

The following organizations had ads running on Facebook just over a week ago, many of which were created just prior to that date. As of now, they have no ads running, and may be participating in the #StopHateForProfit boycott discreetly but effectively.

• Academy of Management — Currently no ads. On June 23, had one ad running from 2019.
• AIP Publishing — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, started June 22 or June 18, 2020.
• American Academy of Neurology — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, started mid-June 2020.
• American Academy of Pediatrics — All ads inactive, prior ads removed. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• American Chemical Society — All ads inactive, prior ads removed. On June 23, one ad started on June 22, 2020.
• American College of Cardiology — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• American College of Chest Physicians — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, started June 17, 2020.
• American College of Physicians — All ads now inactive. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 18, 2020.
• American Dental Association — All ads now inactive, prior ads removed. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• American Physiological Society — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started on June 18, 2020.
• American Psychological Association — No ads as of June 23. One of the first to drop Facebook advertising.
• American Society of Clinical Oncology — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• American Urological Association — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads started in mid-June.
• American Water Works Association — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• BMJ — Currently, no ads. As of June 23, one ad, started on June 19, 2020.
• Cambridge University Press — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads started June 19, 2020.
• De Gruyter — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 11, 2020.
• EBSCO — No ads as of June 23. One of the first to drop Facebook advertising.
• Elsevier — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• Emerald Publishing — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 15, 2020.
• Endocrine Society — No ads as of June 23. One of the first to drop Facebook advertising.
• Frontiers — All ads now inactive. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 19, 2020.
• Harvard University Press — No ads as of June 23. One of the first to drop Facebook advertising.
• IEEE and IEEE Xplore — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 17, 2020.
• JAMA — No ads as of June 23. One of the first to drop Facebook advertising.
• JBJS — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 18, 2020.
• JMIR Publications — No ads as of June 23. One of the first to drop Facebook advertising.
• Johns Hopkins University Press — Currently no ads. On June 23, two ads, most recent started June 6, 2020.
• Karger Publishers — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 19, 2020.
• Mary Ann Liebert — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 15, 2020.
• McGraw-Hill — All ads inactive, prior ads removed. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• MIT Press — All ads inactive. One ad, started June 29, inactivated late on June 30.
• Modern Language Association — Currently no ads. On June 23, one ad, started February 25, 2020.
• NEJM and NEJM Knowledge+ — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• Oxford University Press — All ads inactive, prior ads removed. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• PNAS — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• Project MUSE — All ads inactive. On June 23, only inactive ads showed. One of the first to stop using Facebook.
• ProQuest — All ads inactive, prior ads removed. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• RSNA — Currently no ads. On June 23, one ad started on June 2, 2020.
• Royal Society of Chemistry — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started on June 17, 2020.
• SAGE Publishing — Currently no ads. On June 23, one ad started on June 22, 2020.
• Springer Nature — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 22, 2020.
• Taylor & Francis — Currently no ads. On June 23, multiple ads, most recent started June 18, 2020.
• Thieme — Currently no ads. On June 23, one ad started on June 9, 2020.
• Wiley (but only in India) — Currently no ads. On June 23, one ad started on May 14, 2020.
• Wolters Kluwer — No ads as of June 23. One of the first to drop Facebook advertising.

Mixed Status

• American Association for the Advancement of Science — two ads running for the society, started June 23. Science has no active ads on Facebook. [UPDATE July 1, 2020: AAAS has since made its Facebook ads inactive.]

Publishers who were not advertising via Facebook in the prior checks have not started advertising in the meantime.

This is quite a unified response, if that’s what’s going on. A survey of advertisers published yesterday by the Guardian indicated that about 1/3 of advertisers were joining the boycott.

Overall, it appears the publishers who were using Facebook for marketing have quietly joined the boycott of Facebook advertising, with a few signing on publicly, while those who were not using Facebook ads have stayed away. Let’s see if it holds.

If you have any updates or insights, please email me.

I think this speaks highly of our community.

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