A fat stack of celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Leonardo DiCaprio have vowed not to post on Instagram for a full day, joining the Stop Hate For Profit protest against parent company Facebook and its handling of hate speech and misleading information.
Those public figures say they’ll withhold their content today, Wednesday, September 16, to draw attention to the Stop Hate For Profit Campaign – an ongoing effort pushing Facebook to take firmer action against bigoted, harmful, and outright fake content.
“I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook,” Kardashian told her 189 million Instagram followers this morning.
“But I can’t sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation – created by groups to sow division and split America apart – only to take steps after people are killed.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFKvmvIgADq/
Baron Cohen, who in 2019 said Facebook would have sold political ads to the Nazis, took aim at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“The only thing more terrifying than Mark Zuckerberg surfing in whiteface,” he said, referencing a recent picture of the billionaire, “is the white supremacy and lies Facebook spreads every day.”
PEDESTRIAN.TV has contacted Facebook for comment on the Stop Hate For Profit campaign.
The decision not to post for a day comes amid growing criticism of Facebook, which has been accused of platforming far-right extremism, dragging its feet before removing violent content, allowing political adverts to bend the truth, and, of course, siphoning user data to fuel shady political operations.
Back in June, the movement led to a number of huge companies, including Adidas, Ford, and Levi’s, pledging to pause advertising on Facebook and its associated platforms.
That boycott occurred smack bang in the middle of the pandemic – when consumer spending was expected to drop anyway – but it did coincide with a temporary dip in Facebook’s share price.
It’s unlikely a day without Kardashian content will fix social media once and for all. Still, the willingness for social media superstars to withdraw suggests a growing understanding that social media isn’t just self-promotion and sponcon.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFKindeBuWf/
