Smaller Advertisers More at Risk as Facebook Works to Delete Hate Speech

A recent report by Tech Transparency Project lambasted Facebook for serving ads against searches for content related to white-supremacist phrases like Ku Klux Klan and American Defense Skinheads, first reported by the Washington Post. Facebook swiftly rectified the search system flaw, but sources say the report is a reminder that smaller advertisers, those that make up the bulk of Facebook's revenue, are more at risk of appearing next to harmful content. "Work on brand safety, including Newsfeed exclusions, is welcome but small and medium businesses and smaller-scale buyers of ads may not be able to leverage these tools," said Ben Downing, global managing director, ethical media and strategic partnerships at Havas Media Group. “It’s extremely upsetting to see Black-owned businesses having ads placed next to this kind of content." For years, Meta’s platforms have been accused by regulators and society of not doing enough to regulate hate speech and discriminatory content. Although the company has comprehensive policies targeting terrorist organizations, hate groups and large-scale criminal organizations, there is still more to be done. And it's small and medium businesses, that lack the monetary capabilities and resources to deploy additional brand suitability controls, who would be more at risk when similar system flaws occur. While Meta needs to do more to support smaller businesses, these ad buyers can maximize the platform’s limited inventory controls, sources said. "All 270 groups that Meta has designated as white supremacist organizations are banned from our platform,” Meta spokeswoman Dani Lever told Adweek. “We immediately resolved an issue where ads were appearing even if a user searched for terms related to banned organizations—and we are also working to fix an auto-generation issue, which incorrectly impacted a small number of pages.” Facebook Loses Its Luster for Some Political Advertisers Smaller businesses struggle with limited ad placement control Larger media agencies like UM Worldwide use a range of tools to monitor ad placement, tools that "require a degree of sophistication and time spent on your advertising, which smaller businesses would spend elsewhere running their business,” said Joshua Lowcock, global chief media officer at UM Worldwide. To that, "SMBs are probably not aware of where their ads appear on these platforms." This leaves smaller ad buyers "sort of powerless,” said Nate Byrd, who leads ad agency Empower’s paid social team, told Adweek, suggesting that smaller businesses explore Facebook’s instream inventory controls. “There are categories such as politics, guns or gambling that can be excluded,” he said. “Or even general categories, such as running against limited inventory that Facebook is deeming the most brand safe.” Currently, half of Empower's clients use this inventory tool, but fewer than 5% of its smaller ad buyers run ads on instream since this inventory placement is designed for brands with bigger budgets. Lowcock suggests Meta provide an account setup process for small ad buyers who, in 2020, reportedly accounted for nearly 75% of its annual ad revenue. He says the platform should also find ways to educate them on environments where they may not want ads to run. Still, Facebook is battling a number of headwinds, including the rise of competitors like TikTok, which is leading to less money being spent on the platform. One media buyer at a holding agency, who requested to speak on background, has seen a roughly 15% of decline in Facebook spend among clients over the last few years. Holding companies contribute less than 15% towards Meta's ad revenue, according to Brian Wieser, global president, business intelligence at GroupM. Harmful content decreases on Facebook A report by Global Alliance for Responsible Media found that harmful content on Facebook continued to decrease: in the fourth quarter of 2021, it was 0.02%-0.03% or 2-3 views of content per 10,000 views. This was down from 0.10%-0.11% from Q1 2021. And in the first quarter of 2022, Facebook removed 2.5 million pieces of content tied to organized hate, the Meta spokesperson said. The company has also invested $16 billion dollars and had 40,000 people dedicated to safety and security over the last six years. As Meta Stumbles, Major Advertisers Are Finding Other Platforms Do the Job Just as Well

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Smaller Advertisers More at Risk as Facebook Works to Delete Hate Speech

Firms have limited resources to monitor ad placement against harmful content

Trishla Ostwal

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Trishla Ostwal