The North Face Says It Will Boycott Facebook

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The North Face is the first big brand to say it will no longer run ads on Facebook’s platform as a result of the company’s stance on how it handles disinformation and racist content.

Credit: Shutterstock

Credit: Shutterstock

From Bloomberg:

“We know that for too long harmful, racist rhetoric and misinformation has made the world unequal and unsafe, and we stand with the NAACP and the other organizations who are working to #StopHateforProfit,” the company said in an emailed statement following a Twitter posting.”

I guess good for the company for voting with its advertising budget. It is, however, worth mentioning that this is the same company that hacked Wikipedia to try to get photos of its products at the top of search results for various popular outdoor locations.

Still, I don’t think this will be the last company to feel the pressure over its use of Facebook to attract customers.

Facebook Is Failing Its Biggest Test

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Leading a company like Facebook has to be challenging, even without the President of the United States using your platform as his own personal chaos machine. Maybe throw in a virtual walkout of employees, and a rebuke from some of your earliest employees over your position allowing that chaos. Oh, and there’s still, you know, a global pandemic.

Source: Shutterstock

Source: Shutterstock

Interestingly, though, none of those are actually the worst thing Facebook is facing. They do, however, lay bare the core of what is most definitely Facebook’s biggest problem.

I wrote about that problem last year, and it turns out that nothing has changed. Facebook’s biggest problem its true believer founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

You really don’t have to look further than how Mr. Zuckerberg has handled the latest chaos. Which is, essentially, to do nothing. 

Kara Swisher, in her New York Times column, wonders what Zuckerberg means when he says he did some “pretty thorough” research on how to respond. I suspect all he needed to decide to do nothing was to look at how the President responded to Twitter. 

The President wasn’t thrilled, to say the least. Twitter, of course, decided it would take action by placing at least one of the president’s tweets behind a warning that it could glorify violence. That came after fact-checking several other tweets.

In Facebook’s case, the content isn’t nearly as important as the source. 

Zuckerberg’s biggest concern has always been preserving Facebook. I get it, Facebook basically prints money, and it’s gotten very good at it. So good that it’s made Zuckerberg one of the wealthiest people in the world. Time after time, response after response, one thing has been clear—Facebook isn’t going to do anything that could invite the ire of whatever administration writes the rules. 

Facebook is failing its biggest test, and, as a result, it’s failing us. It’s failing us because when you have a platform, and especially when you directly benefit from what happens on that platform, you’re responsible. That isn’t a question of what is legal, but rather one of accountability.

I do take issue with one point Ms. Swisher makes. She writes, about social media companies: “They fed unlimited amounts of sugar to him and now wonder why he is diabetic and screaming.” 

It isn’t that he became diabetic, it’s that they fed unlimited amounts of sugar to him and now wonder why he’s running around the house with a toy lightsaber, hitting his brother, and breaking things. If he had only become diabetic we could ignore it since it’s up to him to measure his blood sugar and take his insulin. 

Instead, Mr. Zuckerberg is content being his dealer. The rest of us are left picking up the pieces.