Facebook revenue increases 11 per cent despite advertising boycott

Brand activism over perceived unaddressed flaws on the world’s biggest social media platform hasn’t had any impact on its wallet.

The high-profile advertising boycott that saw companies like Coca-Cola, Unilever and Lego pull ads off Facebook hasn’t impacted on company revenue, as earnings reveal an 11 per cent rise in the last quarter.

The earnings come a day after Mr Zuckerberg faced grilling in front of US Congress alongside the heads of Apple, Google, and Amazon and cover the period from April through June 2020.

Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law on Online Platforms and Market Power on Wednesday. Picture: Graeme Jennings/AFP

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In that time most of the world was on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and it appears more of us spent at least some of that time on Facebook.

Daily active users climbed to 1.785 million, up by around 500,000 over the previous quarter.

Facebook’s average revenue per user for the quarter in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) that includes Australia was $US2.99 ($A4.16).

The Stop Hate For Profit campaign had more than 1100 companies and corporations pause advertising on Facebook in an attempt to force Mr Zuckerberg to “address the effect that Facebook has had on our society”.

Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees the boycott wasn’t going to impact on the business. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

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The boycott doesn’t appear to have created an economic need for him to do so, not that he was going to let it anyway.

“We’re not going to change our policies or approach on anything because of a threat to a small per cent of our revenue, or to any per cent of our revenue,” Mr Zuckerberg reportedly told staff at a meeting as the boycott gained momentum.

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company is going to make changes anyway “because it is the right thing to do”.

The campaign organisers met with Mr Zuckerberg and Ms Sandberg but were disappointed.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg failed to impress at a meeting with the boycott campaign organisers. Picture: Justin Sullivan and Jacques Demarthon/AFP

“It was abundantly clear in our meeting that Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team is not yet ready to address the vitriolic hate on their platform,” a campaign statement said.

If you’re familiar with common economic rhetoric you’ll know the massive corporations that stopped advertising are not the “engine room” of the economy, and neither are they the engine room of Facebook’s targeted advertising machine that follows you everywhere you go on the internet and made the company $US18.3 billion ($A25.4 billion) in the past three months.

Small businesses have kept advertising on Facebook as they try to make it through the pandemic.

“We’re glad to provide small businesses the tools they need to grow and be successful online during these challenging times,” Mr Zuckerberg said.

“We’re proud that people can rely on our services to stay connected when they can’t always be together in person.”