Story at a glance
- Patagonia’s boycott of Facebook started in June 2020, part of the #StopHateforProfit campaign.
- The recent internal Facebook documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen prompted Patagonia to reaffirm its boycott.
- Patagonia hopes to encourage other businesses to join its boycott to push Facebook to prioritize people and the planet over profit..
Patagonia called on businesses to join the company’s boycott of Facebook to encourage the social media giant to prioritize people and planet over profit.
Patagonia sign above the entrance to the store located near the Gondola on March 23, 2018 South Lake Tahoe, California. (Sundry Photography/ iStock)
Ryan Gellert, CEO of Patagonia, outdoor clothing and gear retailer, tweeted a series of statements Thursday night reaffirming his company’s commitment to stop all paid advertising on Facebook platforms.
Patagonia initially announced its advertising boycott in June 2020, along with other big companies like The North Face, Ben & Jerry’s, Puma, and many more, rallying around the #StopHateforProfit campaign that aims to hold social media companies accountable for spreading divisive content on their platforms.
Now the issue has taken on a renewed importance as internal Facebook documents were leaked by Frances Haugen, whistleblower and former Facebook product manager. The documents paint a dark picture of the social media giant and confirm many of the allegations Haugen made against Facebook during testimony on Capitol Hill, where she alleged Facebook allowed misinformation to spread on its site ahead of the 2020 election and that it was not doing enough to counter hate speech.
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Armed with this new information, the company reaffirmed its boycott from over a year ago. “Patagonia stopped all paid advertising on Facebook platforms in June 2020 because they spread hate speech and misinformation about climate change and our democracy. We continue to stand by that boycott 16 months later,” Gellert tweeted.
Gellert didn’t stop there, he went on to criticize Facebook for its lack of action, “The internal Facebook documents released over the last few weeks have made it incredibly clear that they know the irreparable damage that their lack of accountability causes their three billion users and the corrosive effects that has on society itself.”
Despite the #StopHateforProfit boycott and Patagonia’s public denouncement of Facebook, the company shared positive news during its third quarter earnings call. Facebook reported $29 billion in revenue, a 35 percent increase from the same period last year. It also posted $9 billion in profit, up 17 percent from the same period last year.
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