• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 21, 2018

In a strange turn of events, business professionals are coming to Facebook’s defense in response to an attack by Mat Baxter, global CEO of IPG Mediabrands’ Initiative.

Earlier in the week, Baxter told his LinkedIn followers -- and the brands he represents -- to ditch the embattled social giant.

“It’s about time we take a collective stand against the egregious behavior of Facebook,” he wrote in a post. “I will be advising clients to stay off the platform entirely … hopefully, when they feel the pain of lost advertising dollars things might just change.”

Baxter’s harsh words came in response to the latest bombshell report in The New York Times, which found that Facebook had shared far more data with business partners than users were aware, including their personal messages.

Yet, rather than back up Baxter, many within his LinkenIn network are siding with Facebook.

“I disagree [Facebook] did anything wrong,” wrote Michael Shareef, digital strategist, Australian ad agency YomConnect. “As a consumer, if I use a feature that requires data to be accessed, then I opt into that feature I expect my data to be accessed!”

Shareef was referring to the fact that Facebook users had to opt-in before having their data shared with the tech titan’s business partners.

Martyn Shaw, a Singapore-based marketing manager, said he didn’t disagree with Baxter’s critique of Facebook, but suggested it would not be in his clients’ best interest to abandon Facebook.

“At the end of the day, it’s not your money to hold back, regardless of feelings toward the company,” said Shaw. “You’re in charge of allocating it to go wherever it will generate the best returns for each client’s objectives.”

Warren Billington, CEO at document data firm Sypht disagreed with Shaw. “Clients best interest?” he asked. “And what about clients protecting their most important asset … their end customers?”

Emily Leiding Weight, a product marketer, Microsoft, suggested that too much has been made of Facebook’s data-sharing practices. “As a consumer, I am wanting this service and offering to forgo the privacy of my boring mundane messages for the added convenience of the connected features.

Some LinkenIn users who don’t work in marketing accused Baxter of hypocrisy and misplaced outrage.  

“In all honesty, you represent drug companies,” Kevin Bell, a senior loan manager and team leader, Bank of England Mortgage, blasted Baxter via LinkedIn. “Very hypocritical, especially given your clients, the big ones, helped start this opiod epidemic.”

The online scuffle comes at a time when Facebook is earning few friends, as the company lurches from one controversy to the next.

For example, recent reports in The New York Times and BuzzFeed revealed that Sheryl Sandberg was not as removed from Facebook’s interest in billionaire financier George Soros as was previously understood.

Just this week, the NAACP called for a boycott of Facebook amid revelations that it failed to stop the spread of political misinformation among the African-American community, leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Also this week, a host of privacy advocates and civil liberties groups re hashed a class-action complaint against Facebook involving its collection and use of biometric data.