New Delhi: Stop Hate for Profit, a campaign to boycott Facebook advertising in a move against hate speech, plans to go global, says an exclusive Reuters report.
After signing on more than 160 companies, including Unilever PLC, Coca-Cola, Honda and Verizon, the campaign will now look to expand its reach to major companies in Europe to stop buying ads on Facebook for the month of July. This comes in line with how Black Lives Matter protests have spread worldwide.
Stop Hate for Profit was launched on 17 June by US civil rights groups Color Of Change, NAACP, and the Anti-Defamation League, along with Sleeping Giants, Free Press and Common Sense Media. The campaign calls on advertisers to stop spending on ads on social media platforms of Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram for the month of July.
The campaign aims to pressure Facebook into taking “meaningful action” and a harder stance on racism and hate speech on its platform. On its website, the campaign has said, “We are asking all businesses to stand in solidarity with our most deeply held American values of freedom, equality and justice and not advertise on Facebook’s services in July.”
On the campaign’s future, Jim Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, said, “The next frontier is global pressure.”
Also read: Unilever, Coke, Honda, Hershey — Growing list of Facebook ad boycotts is hurting Zuckerberg
Trump post and Facebook’s refusal
The trouble started in early June when Facebook refused to take down US President Donald Trump’s controversial posts on the Minneapolis protests, on the grounds that the platform must “enable as much expression as possible”. The company received flak for this while competitor Twitter issued a warning label on Trump’s post.
Subsequently, the campaign claimed Facebook “allowed incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so many others.”
In a live stream Friday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to prohibit hate speech in ads. However, on the same day, company shares fell 8.3 per cent and Zuckerberg lost $7.2 billion in personal wealth.
Earlier in the week, Facebook claimed it tackles hate speech better than Google and Twitter. “While we recognize we have more to do, these results suggest we are moving in the right direction and have systems in place which continue to lead our industry,” said Guy Rosen, VP Integrity, Facebook Tuesday.
Also read: Trump tweets, then deletes, video of fan yelling ‘white power’