Facebook to Review Content Policy After Backlash

Mark Zuckerberg said he would explore ideas to advance racial justice and voter engagement on the platform

The shares of Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) are down 0.05% at $229.62 this morning, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday he would review the social platform's content policies and explore ideas to advance racial justice and voter engagement. Until then, Zuckerberg had maintained he would not challenge inflammatory posts by U.S. President Donald Trump in response to protests surrounding George Floyd's death, deeming the comments "deeply offensive," but not in violation of company policy. After Facebook employees started to resign from their positions, however, the CEO changed his stance. "We're going to review our policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force to see if there are any amendments we should adopt," he wrote.

Unlike most companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Facebook stock has staged an impressive comeback from its mid-March lows near the $137 level. Its recovery has been so impressive, in fact, that the equity hit an all-time high of $240.90 halfway through May. Since then, FB has cooled off slightly, finding overhead pressure at the $235 mark. Unsurprisingly, FB is maintaining a 37.5% lead for the quarter.

Analysts were optimistic toward FB coming into today, with 28 of the 30 in coverage sporting a "buy" or "strong buy," and only two carrying a "hold" recommendation. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus target price of $241.81 is a 5.92% premium to current levels.