Microsoft suspends all advertising on Facebook, Instagram
Microsoft has suspended all advertising on Facebook and Instagram at least until August. The decision from the Satya Nadella-led company, first reported by Axios, marks a big blow to the social network, which has already been losing businesses due to a major boycott launched by six civil groups over a week ago. Here's all you need to know about it.
US ad spending halted in May, followed by global suspension
In a recent internal Yammer chat, cited by Axios, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela stated that the company has halted its global advertising spending on Facebook apps. "Based on concerns we had back in May, we suspended all media spending on Facebook/Instagram in the US and we've subsequently suspended all spending on Facebook/Instagram worldwide," he wrote while replying to an employee.
What are Microsoft's concerns?
The Redmond giant is pausing ad spending on Facebook and its apps due to concerns around where those adverts would appear. According to reports, the company has had problems with the issue of ads appearing next to inappropriate content on the social network. This, as per examples cited by Capossela, particularly includes things like "hate speech, pornography, and terrorist content".
Talks to resume already underway
Capossela added in the chat that their teams are already in talks with the leadership at Facebook and Instagram to clarify what changes they need to do to resume advertising on the platforms. He said, "The timeline on resuming our media spending is dependent on the positive actions they take, but I expect our pause will continue through August."
Either way, this is not good news for Facebook
Microsoft's action means another big spender - the third-largest in 2019 with an estimated spending of $116 million - has ditched Facebook's ad platform. Over the last few days, several big brands, including Ford, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Levi's, have halted spending on Facebook as part of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign against the company's lax policing of racism, hate, and violence.
Facebook's market value, Zuckerberg's net worth dipped
The boycott, particularly from the big brands, has directly affected Facebook's share-price and wiped out a whopping $56 billion from the company's market value, Bloomberg reported. And, the impact did not even spare Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who alone lost $7.2 billion from his net worth, falling down from the third to fourth richest in the world with a wealth of $82.3 billion.
