Facebook had a rather controversial day Wednesday because of an article that appeared on Teen Vogue’s website.
What happened: An article titled “How Facebook Is Helping Ensure the Integrity of the 2020 Election” appeared on Teen Vogue’s website Wednesday.
The article featured a question-and-answer with five women who said Facebook helped to stop spreading misinformation and propaganda with the 2020 election on the way, The New York Times reports.
- The article didn’t have a byline.
- Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg shared the article on her social media pages, calling it a “great piece.”
- The article raised questions from reporters. Teen Vogue added a “sponsored content” label.
- Teen Vogue then removed the “sponsored content” label.
- Teen Vogue then removed the article altogether.
Then: Facebook said the article was real and not sponsored content, saying the label was added by an editor within the company, according to The Verge.
Response: Teen Vogue responded to questions about the article on Twitter.
- One reader asked Teen Vogue’s Twitter account: “What is this?” Teen Vogue’s Twitter account responded, “literally idk.” The tweet was deleted, according to The Verge,
- Teen Vogue sent a statement to The Daily Beast reporter Max Tani: “We made a series of errors labeling this piece, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused. 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.”
But wait, there’s more: Facebook said in a statement that the article was sponsored content after all.
- Facebook: “We had a paid partnership with Teen Vogue related to their women’s summit, which included sponsored content. Our team understood this story was purely editorial, but there was a misunderstanding.”
- An employee at Conde Nast, the parent company of Teen Vogue, told The New York Times that the content was purchased as sponsored content.
- “Facebook pitched the idea for the article last year, when the social media network and the online magazine were in talks about the Teen Vogue Summit, a three-day event that took place in Los Angeles in November, with speakers including the YouTube star Liza Koshy and the film director Greta Gerwig. Facebook was a sponsor of the gathering,” according to The New York Times.