[ [link removed] ]An image of the Facebook logo being cracked by a gavel. The text reads,
"Make the call to Congress & break up Facebook."
John,
Facebook claims to be a platform for cultivating “meaningful engagement”
and “powerful connections,” but the Facebook Papers that were leaked this
week say otherwise. Thousands of pages from Facebook documents highlight
how Facebook’s business model is to profit off its ability to spread and
amplify misinformation and hate speech.^1 Over a year ago, Donald Trump
threatened police brutality protestors through a Facebook post, saying
“when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”^2 Earlier this year, the
Stop the Steal movement used Facebook to organize the January 6
insurrection.^3 While Facebook has downplayed its role in this violence,
these documents reveal that Mark Zuckerberg knew leaving up Trump’s post
and account would rapidly increase the hate directed at Black communities
and Facebook refused to implement countermeasures that would hinder
harm.^4,5
Inflammatory content leads to real-world violence, not just profits for
Facebook, and this conflict of interest means Facebook cannot be trusted
to self-regulate. During the protests over the police-killing of George
Floyd, most of the hate and violent speech Facebook detected was localized
in Minneapolis prior to Trump’s post. Trump’s post nationalized the
targeting of protestors and inflamed hate speech that spread across the
country.^6 By keeping Trump’s post up on Facebook, there was a 300%
increase in reports of hate speech and 500% increase in reports of violent
speech.^7 No company should have the power to cause large-scale harm based
on one content-moderation decision.
In the leaked documents, Facebook acknowledges that Black users are its
most valuable users, but does not cultivate a safe platform for us.
Internal Facebook documents highlight that African Americans are one of
the most active communities, with more meaningful engagement, on the
platform.^8 Black users have been serving as essentially free content
moderators, reporting “racial slurs, violent threats, and harassment
campaigns targeting Black users.”^9 Despite doing this unpaid labor that
would make the platform safer, Facebook not only ignores these reports but
will censor Black users for talking about anti-Black racism.^10 Facebook’s
reckless decisions and failure to curb hate and violent speech from white
nationalists makes its priorities clear: Facebook is a platform for
cultivating white-nationalist communities.
[ [link removed] ]CALL YOUR CONGRESS MEMBER TO BREAK UP FACEBOOK
Who knows what other harms Facebook is hiding from the public to shield
itself from accountability? This is yet another example in the list of
Facebook’s wrongdoings that we have shared with you in the past month
including the empowerment of troll farms targeting Black Americans.^11
Despite Facebook’s artificial intelligence flagging Trump’s post with 90%
certainty of violating its incitement policy, Facebook kept Trump’s post
up due to its “cross-check” program, or XCheck.^12 This program has
exempted Trump and millions of other powerful people from some or all of
Facebook’s rules forbidding harassment or incitement to violence.^13 This
negligence is concerning as Facebook is still considering letting Trump
back on the platform before the 2024 election.^14
[ [link removed] ]CALL YOUR CONGRESS MEMBER TO PASS ANTITRUST REFORM
With your support, Color Of Change has successfully pushed Facebook to
kick Trump off its platform. This is the impact of our collective power.
However, Facebook is not the only one. Other Big Tech companies, like
Google, have platforms that let harmful and violent content go unchecked.
We have another opportunity to not only dismantle Facebook’s monopoly, but
other dangerous monopolies. That’s why we’re asking you to call Congress
and demand they pass antitrust bills with stronger racial justice
language, such as the American Choice and Innovation Online Act, and
allocate $1 billion in funding to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
privacy bureau.
A better future is on the horizon. Color Of Change has been fighting
against the harm caused by monopolies for years. The more support we have
from our members, the more collective power we have, and the likelier it
will be that we can rein in monopoly power for good.
[ [link removed] ]CALL CONGRESS
Until justice is real,
—Color Of Change HQ
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References
1. Mike Isaac, “Facebook Wrestles With the Features It Used to Define
Social Networking,” The New York Times, October 25, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
2. Sam Shead, “Facebook staff angry with Zuckerberg for leaving up
Trump’s ‘looting. . . shooting’ post,” CNBC, June 1, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
3. Craig Silverman, Ryan Mac, & Jane Lytyvenko, “Facebook Knows It Was
Used to Help Incite the Capitol Insurrection,” Buzzfeed, April 22,
2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
4. Jessica Guynn, “Facebook says it’s winning the fight against hate
speech targeting Black Americans. Its own research says otherwise,”
USA Today, October 25, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
5. Donie O’Sullivan, Tara Subramaniam, and Clare Duffy, “Not stopping
‘Stop the Steal:’ Facebook Papers paint damning picture of company’s
role in insurrection,” CNN, October 24, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
6. Naomi Nix and Lauren Etter, “Facebook Privately Worried About Hate
Speech Spawning Violence,” Bloomberg, October 25, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Jessica Guynn, “Facebook while black: Users call it getting ‘Zucked,’
say talking about racism is censored as hate speech,” USA Today, July
9, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
11. Karen Hao, “Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on
Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows,” MIT Technology
Review, September 16, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
12. Ibid.
13. Jeff Horwitz, “Facebook says its rules apply to all. Company documents
reveal a secret elite that’s exempt,” The Wall Street Journal,
September 13, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
14. Elizabeth Culliford, “Facebook suspends Trump until 2023, shifts rules
for world leaders,” Reuters, June 5, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
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[ [link removed] ]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.
[ [link removed] ]Make a Donation
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