Twitter leads the third Media Responsibility Index, as Mediabrands/MAGNA mulls expanding beyond just social media

By Michael Bürgi

It’s fair to say the major social media platforms that take up so much of people’s time and attention have made some progress in trying to ensure their environments are safer for consumers and advertisers — but it’s probably more accurate to say they still have a long way to go cleaning up their acts.

Those shortcomings were a major motivator for IPG’s Mediabrands and MAGNA units to issue their Media Responsibility Index (MRI) report every six months, starting back in early 2021. Essentially offering what it says is an unbiased assessment of the social media platforms’ efforts in areas such as data collection and use; mis- and dis-information levels; advertising transparency; promoting respect and diversity; monitoring and limiting hate speech; enforcing policies; and highlighting accountability, the report relies on responses from the platforms as well as some original reportage and social listening.

Digiday got a first look at the third installment of the MRI, which is being released today.

New areas of focus within the MRI questionnaire sent to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter and YouTube (LinkedIn was sent a questionnaire, but declined to respond) include: biometric data collection and storage; gender identity and ad targeting; hate-speech policies; reporting of BIPOC and underrepresented creators; misinformation labels; and others.

As evidence of the need for the MRI, the report states upfront the fact that “64 percent of Americans say social media has a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S. today.”

But since social media isn’t the only way Americans digest content and opinions, future installments of the MRI will aim to expand to other media, according to Elijah Harris, executive vp of global digital partnerships & media responsibility at MAGNA, who oversees the report. “In order for us to scale it and make a bigger impact, it’s going to require us to expand the media types we look at … We’re still covering a minority of the investment pie,” he said.

Harris added another expansion plan for MRI is to enable IPG’s various countries and regions to customize elements of the report to their local needs and challenges. “The goal is to, at some point get everywhere our clients are spending, and that’s a big pie,” added Dani Benowitz, MAGNA’s U.S. president.

IPG is not alone in its efforts to move the industry forward when it comes to issues of brand safety, representation, enforcement against bad-actor behavior, data accuracy and eliminating bias — each of the holding companies devotes significant energies to at least a few of these areas. But arguably, the MRI is the most broad, tackling five different elements of evaluation of the social platforms’ efforts in media responsibility:

advertising controls
enforcement
policy
reporting
user controls

“We’re constantly adapting it to change with what’s going on around us,” said Benowitz. “Our clients are 100 percent asking for this from us, they’re expecting it from us. They’re leaning on us to hold our media partners accountable and hold them accountable — and they …read more

Source:: Digiday