Angela Lang/CNET
In a new campaign called #StopHateforProfit, six civil rights groups are asking large Facebook advertisers to boycott the site, due to what they call the social media giant’s “repeated failure to address the vast proliferation of hate on its platforms.”
With the campaign, the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Colors of Change, Free Press and Common Sense are calling on corporations to pause advertising on Facebook during July, putting pressure on the platform to use its $70 billion in annual advertising revenue to support people who are targets of racism and hate and to increase safety for private groups on the site.
“We have long seen how Facebook has allowed some of the worst elements of society into our homes and our lives. When this hate spreads online it causes tremendous harm and also becomes permissible offline,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a press release. “Our organizations have tried individually and collectively to push Facebook to make their platforms safer, but they have repeatedly failed to take meaningful action. We hope this campaign finally shows Facebook how much their users and their advertisers want them to make serious changes for the better.”
More than 55 percent of Facebook users reported experiencing hate and harassment on the platform, according to the ADL’s survey of Americans using social media.
Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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