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Amid this global movement to end anti-Blackness, Facebook has chosen to stay silent as they allow hate, bias, and discrimination to grow on their platforms. They’ve allowed—and profited from—incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice following the police and vigilante killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks.
For five years, Color Of Change has called on Facebook to do the right thing and make their platforms safer for the millions of Black people who use them. Each time we warned them, they treated our concerns like an all sides matter PR crisis. They allowed, and still allow, Black lives to be compromised on their platform every day.
Facebook’s leadership has gotten away with racist practices and inaction because corporations continue to feed ad dollars—nearly $70 billion—into the company’s coffers. But that’s about to change. We’ve already organized nearly 100 companies to refuse to buy ads on Facebook for the month of July. Since Thursday, Verizon, Unilever, and Coca-Cola, who spend millions of dollars each month on Facebook ads, joined our campaign, which is likely to spur a wave of additional corporate supporters. Together, we’re going to show Facebook that if they won’t combat racism on their platform, we’re going to come for their profits.1
Join us in holding Facebook accountable by asking companies to #StopHateforProfit and pause advertisements on Facebook during the month of July.
Our requests to Facebook are simple; we need them to: invest in a civil rights infrastructure, start prioritizing the safety of Black users, and prioritize the sanctity of our democracy. Making these changes will help with the years-long problems Facebook has not seriously addressed, like the harassment and censorship of Black women on the platform and the proliferation of voter suppression.2 But because Facebook hasn’t made these changes, we have to hold them accountable through means they understand best: their money.
With many releasing poignant statements in the last month about how much they value Black people and decry racism, we have real leverage to demand they go beyond their statements and take a stand against Facebook’s dismal civil rights record. #StopHateforProfit is an opportunity for corporations to show that they can offer more than hollow words of support for Black people and racial justice. By pressing the major corporations who have publicly stated they stand for Black lives to withhold their advertising dollars, we can force Facebook to reconsider how it has ignored the demands of Black users and civil rights organizations.3
Tell companies to stop advertising on Facebook during the month of July and #StopHateforProfit.
Facebook’s failure to protect and support Black users has never been clearer. And so, together with our partners at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Free Press, and Common Sense Media, we will end the promotion of hate, racism, and violence on the platform—once and for all. Let’s send Facebook a powerful message that we won’t stand for the rampant civil rights abuses they enable on their platform.
Tell companies to #StopHateforProfit by pausing advertisements during the month of July.
Until justice is real,
—Arisha, Rashad, Brandi, Jade, Johnny, Amanda, Marie, Evan, Imani, Eesha, Samantha, Jennette, Ciera, Marcus, FolaSade, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References:
- “House Hearing on Disinformation Campaigns and Social Media,” C-Span, June 24, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/254766?t=17&akid=43751%2E4731121%2EfRVvLB
- “Calling on Facebook Corporate Advertisers to Pause Ads for July 2020,” Color Of Change, June 19, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/254767?t=19&akid=43751%2E4731121%2EfRVvLB
- “Facebook while black: Users call it getting 'Zucked,' say talking about racism is censored as hate speech,” USA Today, April 24, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/135490?t=21&akid=43751%2E4731121%2EfRVvLB
Image: Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please help keep our movement strong.
