We already knew what Trump back in the White House would mean for the tech industry long before he took the oath, whether it was Elon Musk trying to tell governments around the world what they should be doing, or Jeff Bezos damaging the journalist integrity of the Washington Post.

It came as no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg would grab the opportunity to change key procedures at Meta, affecting Facebook and Instagram. This is a person who has never shown any desire to take responsibility for what his platforms create or cause, and has only introduced controls under sufferance.

His latest changes, though, introduce a distinct risk for any business advertising on his platforms. He announced in the first week of January that Facebook would no longer bother with fact-checking. You can say any nonsense, concoct a blatant lie or push a new conspiracy theory, and the platform will happily publish it.

Perhaps even more disturbingly, the revised policy around hateful conduct has removed some prohibitions entirely. Women can now be compared to household objects, ethnic groups can be called “filth” and transgender or non-binary people can be called “it”.

Now let’s say you are a commercial business whose target audience is women. After all, they only make up just over half our entire population.

Is it going to be helpful for your business to have your advertisement placed next to someone’s misogynistic rant? If Auckland’s thriving Indian or Chinese communities are important to your business, is a platform that enables them to be targeted and abused a good place for you to be pitching your products or services?

Choosing an environment that is actually positive for your business is pretty fundamental. In Australia, the Kyle and Jackie O radio show on KIIS FM is facing a growing advertiser boycott thanks to a community campaign that highlights their “violent misogyny”.

It’s worth reading this piece to understand the issues facing advertisers with the changes to Facebook: Big Tech becomes Mafia Tech: How advertisers must respond now – The Media Leader. Omar Oakes is no fan of advertiser boycotts, but he spells out very clearly the reputational risk that now confronts advertisers.

Digital media can be a simple and effective way to reach your target audiences, but it’s never a good marketing strategy to close your eyes and hope for the best.

People like Zuckerberg only ever care about their business, and profits – not yours.

Andrew Holden is the Director of Public Affairs for the NPA.