Dear MoveOn member,
Mike Lindell, the CEO of the MyPillow company, is one of the loudest voices amplifying QAnon conspiracy theories about Donald Trump.1 He's bankrolling MAGA rallies and appearing on Alex Jones' fringe podcast, promoting the same alternate reality that resulted in the deadly white supremacist-led insurrection on January 6.2
It's unacceptable that Facebook is allowing Lindell to spend millions of dollars advertising on its platform, when he is still selling the Big Lie propaganda and pro-insurrection garbage that got Donald Trump banned from the platform.
Earlier this year, after more than 275,000 MoveOn members signed a petition, Costco booted MyPillow products from all of its stores.3 Now, we can come together again to send a loud message to Facebook. And now is the perfect moment to strike: Even right-wing message machine Fox News has refused to run Lindell's ads promoting fringe conspiracy theories about made-up election problems.4 Let's keep holding him accountable by forcing Facebook to stop carrying his ads too.
Sign my petition: Tell Facebook to immediately stop running MyPillow ads!
Lindell is peddling many of the same, dangerous lies that forced Facebook to remove Trump from the platform. His lies are so bad that major retailers like Kohl's and Bed Bath & Beyond stopped selling MyPillow products.
But Lindell has doubled down on his aggressive lies and is now holding rallies at which he spouts the QAnon fiction that Trump will somehow be reinstated as president.5 Department of Homeland Security officials have told lawmakers that they expect this conspiracy theory to inflame the threat of extremist violence, just as the lies that Trump and Lindell spread earlier helped fuel the racist violence of January 6.6
Yet Facebook is still making money off of MyPillow, which has increased its online advertising as a result of being kicked out of retail stores.6
Enough is enough. It's time for Facebook to be consistent and stop taking money from MyPillow, indirectly propping up and amplifying Lindell's conspiracy theories.
MoveOn's highest priority right now is to pass the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, and we're all-in on this critical legislation that will reimagine our economy by rewarding work instead of wealth, investing in green infrastructure and the care economy, and making sure the rich and corporations pay more of their fair share.
At the same time, seditionists like Mike Lindell need to be reined in, because we have to defend our democracy on all fronts to ensure we have a government that can meet the needs of the American people—and part of that is ensuring consequences for people, including political and business leaders, who continue to undermine the election results and support insurrectionists. Which is why we're calling on Facebook to remove MyPillow ads from their platform. Together, we can seize on the momentum against Lindell and hold him accountable.
Thanks!
–David Sievers, MoveOn Civic Action
Sources:
1. "‘It will be the talk of the world’: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell gives exact date for Trump’s return to White House in bizarre conspiracy," The Independent UK, July 7, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/154914?t=11&akid=303258%2E40999114%2ExZv33m
2. "'My Pillow Guy' Mike Lindell teams up with Alex Jones’ on ‘Infowars’" New York Daily News, July 19, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/154915?t=13&akid=303258%2E40999114%2ExZv33m
3. "MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says Costco has pulled his products. It's the second-largest retailer to cut ties with him." Business Insider, April 13, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/153738?t=15&akid=303258%2E40999114%2ExZv33m
4. "Fox News, Against All Odds, Refuses to Air MyPillow Guy's Ads 'Proving' Election Fraud Conspiracy," Slate, July 30, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/154916?t=17&akid=303258%2E40999114%2ExZv33m
5. "Mike Lindell set August 13 as the date in his bonkers theory that Trump will be reinstated as president," Business Insider, July 6, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/154603?t=19&akid=303258%2E40999114%2ExZv33m
6. "DHS is concerned about Trump reinstatement conspiracy theory, top official says," Politico, June 24, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/154604?t=21&akid=303258%2E40999114%2ExZv33m
7. "MyPillow has spent $3.6 million on Facebook ads in 2021 — and spending spikes whenever founder Mike Lindell gets bad press, data shows," Business Insider, March 20, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/154605?t=23&akid=303258%2E40999114%2ExZv33m
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