Note: Reduced spenders are companies that did not officially announce boycotts, but decreased their spending in July by at least 90 percent compared to June.
The advertiser boycott of Facebook took a toll on the social media giant, but it may have caused more damage to the companys reputation than to its bottom line.
The boycott, called #StopHateForProfit by the civil rights groups that organized it, urged companies to stop paying for ads on Facebook in July to protest the platforms handling of hate speech and misinformation.
Many of the companies that stayed away from Facebook said they planned to return, and many are mom-and-pop enterprises and individuals that depend on the platform for promotion. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, has emphasized the importance of small business, saying during an earnings call on Thursday that some seem to wrongly assume that our business is dependent on a few large advertisers.
The Kansas-based digital agency DEG had a whirlwind of a month as its small to midsize clients grappled with whether they could reach enough customers without Facebook, said Quinn Sheek, its director of media and search.
The issue was raised in a congressional hearing this past week and in repeated meetings between ad industry representatives and Facebook leaders.