Facebook says it plans to award $100M in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 small businesses in 30+ countries to address COVID-19's economic impact
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said Tuesday it plans to award $100 million in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 small businesses …
ReutersDavid Shepardson
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook's $100M small-business program is the opening move in a rapid sequence: within two weeks the company layered on a $100M news-industry commitment split between emergency local-news funding and added marketing spend, then a gift card registry with grant applications set to open. The scale marks a step change from its $10M community-leaders grants of 2018 — ten times the money, aimed this time at the businesses that buy its ads.
The timing matters: the grants land while Facebook's ad business faces the same downturn its customers do, so cash-and-ad-credits relief doubles as a way to keep 30,000 advertisers in the ecosystem across 30+ countries.
First-order effects
Up to 30,000 small businesses in 30+ countries get direct cash grants plus ad credits, with applications opening the following week per the follow-up announcement — immediate liquidity for advertisers whose spending would otherwise lapse.
Second-order effects
The bundled ad credits convert relief into retained ad demand, pressuring rival platforms to match grant-style support for their own SMB advertiser bases or risk share loss when spending recovers.
The gift card registry extends the program from advertising into commerce tooling, pulling Facebook further into small-business infrastructure beyond its core ad product.
Third-order effects
If crisis-era grant programs become the template, platform dependence deepens: small businesses increasingly rely on a handful of ad platforms for both revenue and emergency support, concentrating bargaining power with the platforms themselves.
The pattern — grants, news-industry funding, registries — points toward platforms institutionalizing relief and subsidy programs as a standing part of their advertiser relationships rather than one-off crisis responses.
The trend: Ad platforms are converting crisis relief into ecosystem lock-in, using grants and credits to bind small-business advertisers more tightly to their infrastructure.
It would be awesome if giant companies competed over which could do the most good in a crisis for employees, local economies, people in need and the country at large. https://www.facebook.com/...
Small businesses are the heartbeat of our communities. To help during this time of crisis, Facebook is offering $100M in cash grants & ad credits for up to 30k small businesses in over 30 countries where we operate. A note from our COO Sheryl Sandberg: https://www.facebook.com/..…
Small businesses are so important to our communities, and they are going to be hit hard by COVID-19. At Facebook we're offering $100M in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30k small businesses in over 30 countries where we operate. Details: https://facebook.com/...
Full story here: https://theintercept.com/... Facebook's argument is that a $1000 payment to contractors would be less “meaningful” than the paid leave they will receive, although it's unclear why they couldn't receive both given the co's $50 billion cash reserves
“Facebook, which as of last December held over $50 billion in cash, will provide no such payout for the tens of thousands of contract workers who keep the company's apps and sites running.” https://theintercept.com/...
Facebook gives a $1,000 bonus to its most well-paid workers to get them through this hard time. But not to the hourly workers who spend their days moderating the worst parts of its service https://twitter.com/...
I'm confused. Facebook pays *really* well already, so these are the people who need it least. Why not provide this as, say, donation matches to community organizations helping people who aren't doing well right now? https://twitter.com/...
Story now has quotes from Zuckerberg. Also: - FB contractors will be paid regardless of whether they can do their job from home or not - FB is shifting its most sensitive moderation work to full time employees - Exploring giving workers more time off to take care of kids at home
Zuckerberg memo to Facebookers: “I know this is an incredibly stressful time for everyone, and I appreciate everything you're all doing to adapt...and make sure we can keep providing important social and communications infrastructure for billions of people around the world.”
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg announced internally that all 45K employees are getting $1,000 in cash and will earn at least their full bonuses for their six-month review. It's the boldest step yet by a large co. to offset the financial impact of coronavirus. http://thein.fo/...
Facebook is the first to give employees bonus (and to tweak regular review bonus.) Others will follow. @jtoonkel and @alexeheath with the scoop. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
I hope anyone working there making more than six figures finds a way to spread that around to some service workers and the like https://twitter.com/...