Report: Companies Boycotting Facebook Are Still Sending It Customer Data

With each passing week, more major companies are joining the “Stop Hate for Profit” advertising boycott of Facebook. This has forced the social media giant to finally answer some uncomfortable questions about its content moderation policies — though according to a recent report in The Telegraph, these companies may not be doing everything they can to pressure Facebook. In fact, some of them are still sending the company their customers’ data despite participating in the boycott.

According to the report, many of these advertisers still have Facebook tracking pixels installed on their websites. This small piece of code allows Facebook to track users around the web and target advertising to them with scary precision. And experts say this data is immensely valuable to both Facebook and its advertisers.

“For some of these brands, retaining pixel data might be more valuable than spending money on ads. Pixel data can be shared with Google, Spotify, a myriad of other platforms,” digital advertising consultant Max Rymer told The Telegraph. “You can get the initial PR hit with this campaign and then, whenever you’re ready, start marketing on Facebook. But in the meantime, you can still use that data to target people that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach.”

It’s disheartening to learn that so many of these boycotting companies are trying to have it both ways with Facebook. Here’s hoping this report causes some of them to drop the trackers, too.




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