Teen Vogue Pulls Article on Facebook's Election Efforts
January 08 2020 - 8:57PM
Dow Jones News
By Nat Ives
Some readers were surprised Wednesday when Teen Vogue published
an article on its website headlined "How Facebook Is Helping Ensure
the Integrity of the 2020 Election."
"As the 2020 campaign gains speed, Facebook is taking measures
to protect against foreign interference and stop the spread of
misinformation," Teen Vogue's article began. "Social media is a
fertile space for civic participation, and Facebook is at the
forefront of encouraging civic discourse. But with the company's
huge platform comes huge responsibility."
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, and Rob
Leathern, director of product management at Facebook, shared the
article on social media.
Given the tide of misinformation on Facebook and its policy not
to fact-check ads by politicians, some observers asked if the
article was actually sponsored content.
Teen Vogue soon added an editor's note stipulating that the
article was in fact sponsored. Then the online publication removed
the note and, soon after, erased the entire piece from the
internet. "Uh-Oh," an error message on Teen Vogue's website now
reads.
Facebook had commissioned sponsored content as part of a larger
sponsorship of the three-day Teen Vogue Summit last November, but
ultimately changed its mind about that aspect of the deal,
according to a person familiar with the situation. The article was
already in the system at Teen Vogue, however, and a communications
lapse led to its publication and mislabeling.
"We had a paid partnership with Teen Vogue related to their
women's summit, which included sponsored content," Facebook said in
a statement. "Our team understood this story was purely editorial,
but there was a misunderstanding."
A spokesman for Teen Vogue publisher Condé Nast said a series of
labeling errors led to the article's publication and apologized for
any confusion about it. "We don't take our audience's trust for
granted, and ultimately decided that the piece should be taken down
entirely to avoid further confusion," the spokesman added.
Sponsored content that mimics the editorial content around it
but that is labeled as advertising has become common on websites
and social media.
"Sponsored content is valuable to marketers because it leverages
the expertise in storytelling at the media organization in a
trusted environment," said Jason Kint, chief executive officer of
Digital Content Next, a trade association for premium publishers.
"Having it be properly labeled so that the audience knows it is
sponsored content is critical to maintaining that trust."
Write to Nat Ives at nat.ives@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2020 20:42 ET (01:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024