Brands such as The North Face and REI have paused advertising on the social media platform as part of the ‘Stop Hate for Profit’ campaign over Facebook’s failure to address hate speech.
Each year, Facebook makes roughly $70bn in annual advertising revenue. However, according to a new “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign, launched by advocacy groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and the Color Of Change, much of this profit comes from “amplifying the messages of white supremacists” and “permitting incitement to violence”.
As a result of this, many outdoor apparel and product retailers such as The North Face, REI, and Patagonia have pledged not to pay for advertising on Facebook platforms as part of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign.
Freelance job listing site Upwork and the internet company Mozilla have also joined this pledge.
The campaign is asking advertisers to pressure the tech giant to adopt stricter policies against racist and hateful content on its platforms by pausing all advertising with the company for the month of July.
Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, has said in a statement: “We have long seen how Facebook has allowed some of the worst elements of society into our homes and our lives,”
He added: “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.”
