*Facebook will be used to describe Facebook and Instagram in this article since Facebook own Instagram and they use the same advertising platform*
Facebook has been caught up in a slew of scandals recently ranging from the forging of advertisement metrics to allowing meddling in the Presidential election. These scandals have only been a slight speed bump to Facebook's path to controlling all forms of social media advertising, but there have been a few major brands that have realized the atrocities and stopped supporting Facebook with their ad dollars.
Mozilla
The popular search engine announced they were suspending all advertising on Facebook due to concerns about user privacy. This came in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that saw over 50 million Americans have their privacy invaded on Facebook.
Mozilla released a statement saying “This news caused us to take a closer look at Facebook’s current default privacy settings given that we support the platform with our advertising dollars. While we believe there is still more to learn, we found that its current default settings leave access open to a lot of data – particularly with respect to settings for third party apps.”
Sonos
The speaker company Sonos announced a suspension on all Facebook advertising due to concerns about the privacy of the platform. In a statement they said “We are concerned by the recent revelations about Facebook and the exploitation of its platform,”.
Sonos vague statement leaves the reason for their suspension of advertising up to interpretation, it should be noted though that this suspension also came in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Basecamp
Basecamp, a developer of productivity apps, went as far as deleting all of their Facebook related accounts. Including WhatsApp and Instagram, declaring themselves "Facebook Free".
Basecamp's Chris Hansson was very vocal about leaving Facebook ,“Facebook has a frankly despicable business model that’s predicated on violating people’s privacy and running an ad monopoly,”, “I think more people and more businesses should vote with their presence, vote with their ad dollars and consider what they want more of in this world. Our conclusion was we would like less Facebook.”
Hansson's assertion that businesses should vote with their ad dollars has resonated with many in Silicon Valley and beyond.
User Camp
Keeping with the productivity app developers, User Camp also decided to delete all Facebook owned accounts. User Camp's CEO Ben Fox had been spending thousands on Facebook ads when he realized he could no longer do so, saying “as far as I can tell they don’t seem to have an internal moral compass besides doing what they’re required to by law,” Fox said. “The least I can do is just not give them any money.”
Taking a moral stand seems to have paid off for User Camp, with continued growth even without Facebook ads.
SpaceX and Tesla
Elon Musk decided to delete the Facebook pages of both of his most prominent companies. When asked why he deleted both pages he said Facebook "gives him the willies".
These are just a few examples of the countless brands that have either deleted Facebook or stopped contributing advertising dollars. Some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley and some of the most well known companies in the world have decided that enough is enough with Facebook, is that time coming for you?
