Facebook Killed PH’s Democracy (But Advertisers Can Help Take it Back)

Dear Facebook, you have effectively killed our democracy by turning a blind eye on fake news and troll accounts. Do we need to start our own Facebook ad boycott in the Philippines to get you to listen to us?

We know you don’t care much when you’re still turning profit from our advertising pesos, but tech giants like yourself need to know your place. Stop messing with how the world operates because if the people get angry enough, we could crush you like the bug that you are.

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Facebook is Basically a Military-Grade Weapon

Just weeks ago, something crazy jolted me up from the bed, and into a pool of anger. A lot of my friends and I who had graduated from, or studied in the University of the Philippines, woke up to news that gave me absolute goosebumps. Multiple “duplicate” accounts had been created using our names overnight. These accounts had a default profile picture, which was a huge indicator that they were created by trolls. Oh, and what’s worse is, some of these accounts were sending threatening messages to the real users.

Now, some of you might be wondering why it’s such a scary thing. Well, this happened right at the peak of the #JunkTerrorBill movement that forced a lot of zoomers to speak out online against the government and the Anti-Terror Bill.

With how vaguely the ATB could be interpreted, the writing was on the wall: these duplicate accounts could post something incriminating under your name, like pretending to threaten people for example. If they do that, you could easily be thrown in jail without question.

Later on however, we’d realize that it was not just students and alumni from my school who were being targeted. Most of the victims of this cyber identity thefit situation were those who were vocal about their opposition to the Anti-Terror Bill.

There were a lot of theories as to where the data came from.

It could have been from an algorithm that targets people who had used the hashtag “#JunkTerrorBill” in one of their posts. Another theory is how the trolls targeted users who had signed a Change.org petition against the ATB. One thing is for sure though: with how quickly the accounts were being created, Facebook was once again being used as a weapon by the troll farms.

So after that happened, Facebook said no malicious activity happened, and the National Bureau of Investigation claimed it was a glitch. Pretty sure no one who was victimized believed that.

What kind of Black Mirror episode did I just live through?

How Facebook Killed our Democracy

After that whole thing, I decided to watch The Great Hack on Netflix. It’s a great look into how a data analytics company, Cambridge Analytica, had used our Facebook data to skew elections in different countries with the aid of targeted ads. While that might seem like fair game, they planted fake news and intentionally created dissent in these countries to make their client win. Of course for some reason, they decided to side with candidates who were bigots for these elections.

Here’s the kicker. They were a British consulting firm, but had the balls to test out their strategies on developing countries like the Philippines. Then, once they proved their success in these areas, they then decided to take on the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Brexit next.

Like… are they for real? Why do these people think that they can just swoop in and totally change how other countries operate?

We are not your guinea pigs! If you’re going to pull down your zipper and piss all over the plants, do it in your own backyard!

But besides that, the fact that Facebook is doing virtually nothing to regulate political ads, fake news, and troll accounts shows where their allegiance truly lies: their bank account. Having these things unregulated in a social media-heavy country like ours is tantamount to a dead democracy.

If you don’t have facts, you can’t have truth. If you don’t have truth, you don’t have trust. If you don’t have these two things, you don’t have democracy.

Maria Ressa in a 2019 interview with CIGI

So if you’ve been on the political side of the internet for some time now, you’d know how our current government has used Facebook to create chaos. Paid troll armies are the most notorious example, coming to the defense of the president when he is being criticized. As they grow in number, the divide between Duterte’s supporters and detractors just keep getting bigger and bigger by the day.

Which is exactly what they want. And something that Facebook has done nothing about.

July 2020 Facebook Ad Boycott

Since Americans have caught up to Facebook’s role in democracy and elections, lawmakers have been rightfully grilling Zuckerberg for lack of regulation when it comes to fake news. And now that the 2020 U.S. presidential elections are coming up, the anger of the people has been piling up, as Facebook could very well be weaponized to favor a presidential candidate again.

Additionally, the platform has been used to post hateful content against vulnerable communities, primarily those that include BIPOC. They have refused to take down hate-filled comments in relation to recent killings against POC. One such comment was made by President Donald Trump himself, where he encouraged protesters to be shot. Throughout this debacle, Mark Zuckerburg remained silent about the issue, despite a huge backlash from numerous people and groups.

And believe me, this just fueled the fire even more.

As a response to their inaction when it comes to racially-charged comments, a prominent number of big and small advertisers have vowed not to run any Facebook ads in the month of July. Activist groups have been working non-stop for more advertisers to join their call to #StopHateforProfit. Yes, there have been many ad boycotts in the past, but this seems to be the biggest one yet.

Why This Boycott Means Something

Even being a Filipino, you’d be able to recognize names of brands who have agreed to take part in this movement: The North Face, Upwork, Ben & Jerry’s, Rakuten Viber, and probably the biggest fish yet, Verizon Wireless.

To provide context, Facebook was able to to earn a whopping $69.7 billion dollars in 2019, with 46.1% of their 2018 revenue coming from U.S. and Canada alone. From those numbers, you’re probably thinking that this boycott will not do anything in the long run, especially when these brands are planning to resume their ads after July anyway. Great, that’s what other marketers are thinking too.

However, let’s look at the bigger picture.

By participating in the boycott, all these companies are using the reach and influence that they have to spread awareness about Facebook’s problem in addressing racist and discriminatory comments. More than that, these advertisers could very much influence how their customers think and feel. Just by explaining why they refuse to run ads for July, they are already educating people on how dangerous the tech giant could truly be.

As this continues to gain steam, the activist groups and brands who joined the boycott have already made a statement. And now that more advertisers are taking part, this story has continued to gain momentum throughout media and news outlets. The best part is almost all of their content gives context on why this boycott is happening in the first place: Facebook’s inaction towards racially-charged comments. While this won’t put a dent in Facebook’s revenue numbers, this movement has been chipping away at their credibility and reputation.

Plus, the public pressure is probably weighing heavily on Mr. Robot right now. If he’ll finally cave in, we will have to wait and see.

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Why We Need a Facebook Ad Boycott in the Philippines

What that in mind, imagine if all the big and small local advertisers could come together to create a Facebook ad boycott in the Philippines. We even have our own, extremely valid concern to rationalize this: the weaponization of Facebook against free speech.

Imagine if the likes of P&G, Unilever, and Jollibee Foods Corporation would actually take a stand against disinformation, troll armies, clone accounts, and other shenanigans, by not running any Facebook ads for a certain time.

Having an ad boycott would be a big step in taking back our virtually-dead democracy that we worked so hard to earn. It’s probably true that the advertising revenue from the Philippines is barely a blip in Facebook’s radar, but a movement like this has a ton of potential to create awareness and educate the masses. Media outlets from all over the world and the country would pick it up and help impart our message about responsible regulation of online platforms.

Then, we could inspire the people and truly make a change. Now that’s what I call a power move.

Unfortunately, this all seems like an unreachable and unrealistic dream.

If someone does start a Facebook ad boycott in the Philippines, we’d probably just have other companies taking advantage of the lighter competition on the platform. I also presume that the gesture wouldn’t be appreciated as much as in the U.S., as most of the population haven’t realized the impact of Facebook has had in our democracy yet. Even so, realistically speaking, the big advertisers here don’t have the guts to take part in something as small as a Facebook ad boycott. I’d literally have to see it to believe it.

But hey, we can always stay hopeful that advertisers will be able to realize that they play a much bigger role in society than they’d like to think. Someday, I know that citizens and advertisers alike can put our differences, fear, and greed aside to slay the Facebook dragon once and for all.

Want to hear more hot takes from zoomers like this one? Take a look at our opinion articles here.

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Featured Image: Thought Catalog