#StopHateforProfit Campaign: Boycotting Facebook & Instagram Ads
#StopHateForProfit
We here at Huaywasi are proud to stand with many businesses in the #StopHateForProfit campaign, halting paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the U.S. starting July 1.
On June 17, a group of six organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Color of Change, launched the campaign which calls on Facebook advertisers to halt their spending for the entire month of July. The goal of this campaign is simple: convince social media companies to finally put people over profit.
Source: #StopHateForProfit
Companies such as Ben & Jerry’s, are asking Facebook “to take the clear and unequivocal actions called for by the campaign to stop it from being used to spread and amplify racism and hate.” There is an endless list of businesses participating in the campaign but some brands to highlight are Unilever, Verizon, Patagonia, The North Face, and Eileen Fisher.
Source: Ben & Jerry’s Instagram
Jonathan Greenblatt, president of the ADL, wrote in an open letter to Facebook advertisers, “Your ad buying dollars are being used by the platform to increase its dominance in the industry at the expense of vulnerable and marginalized communities who are often targets of hate groups on Facebook.”
It is important now more than ever for every brand, in every industry, to stand up for these injustices. Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, said in a statement, “Amid this global movement to end anti-Blackness, we credit these companies for answering our call swiftly and taking a clear stand for what’s right so we can hold Facebook accountable for its racist policies.”
The NAACP said, “We have been down this road with Facebook. They have made apologies in the past. They have taken meager steps after each catastrophe where their platform played a part. But this has to end now.”
The NAACP has also listed ten steps that can be used to begin to address Facebook’s problems.
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Establish and empower permanent civil rights infrastructure to evaluate products and policies for discrimination, bias, and hate
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Submit to regular, third-party, independent audits of identity-based hate and misinformation with summary results published to website
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Provide audit and refund to advertisers whose ads were shown next to content that was later removed for violations of terms of service
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Find and remove public and private groups focused on white supremacy, militia, antisemistism, violent conspiracies, Holocaust denialism, vaccine misinformation, and climate denialism
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Adopting common-sense changes to their policies that will help stem radicalization and hate on the platform
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Stop recommending or otherwise amplifying groups or content from groups associated with hate, misinformation or conspiracies to users
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Create an internal mechanism to automatically flag hateful content in private groups for human review
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Ensure accuracy in political and voting matters by eliminating the politician exemption, removing misinformation related to voting, and prohibiting calls to violence by politicians in any format
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Create expert teams to review submissions of identity-based hate and harassment
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Enable individuals facing severe hate and harassment to connect with a live Facebook employee
Some people have argued that Facebook has been doing better lately, but as the ADL stated perfectly, “‘Better’ isn’t good enough when you have billions of users and rampant hate pervading 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across the globe.”
Source; Jonathan Greenblatt @JGreenblattADL
As a small brand, we typically rely on Facebook and Instagram advertising to reach a larger consumer market. During this boycott, we are asking for your help to make this financially feasible for us.
3 Ways to Help Small Brands During #StopHateForProfit campaign:
We have learned the hard way that Facebook will not take these necessary steps unless forced. We invite all business, organizations, and partners to join us in the #StopHateForProfit campaign where we can work together to hold the platform accountable.