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Kim Kardashian West and dozens of other celebrities have announced that they will freeze their social media accounts to protest against the spread of “hate, propaganda and misinformation.”
“Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact,” Kardashian West wrote in a statement Tuesday.
The move is part of the #StopHateforProfit campaign that was organized by civil rights activists.
Celebrities will freeze their accounts for 24 hours on Wednesday.
“I cannot sit back and remain silent as these platforms continue to allow the spread of hate, propaganda and misinformation, created by groups to sow division and divide the United States,” he added. Kardashian West said.
“Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy,” he added.
Other celebrities who have agreed to participate in the boycott include actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Sacha Baron Cohen and Jennifer Lawrence, as well as singer Katy Perry.
“I can’t sit idly by while these platforms turn a blind eye to groups and posts spreading hateful misinformation,” Perry wrote on Instagram.
Actor Ashton Kutcher, who has millions of followers and also joins the boycott, said that “these tools were not created to spread hate [and] violence”.
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Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have also joined the boycott
Organizers of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, which launched in June, accuse Facebook and Instagram of not doing enough to stop hate speech and misinformation.
The group has focused on Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, and last year brought in ad revenue of nearly $ 70bn (£ 56.7bn).
Thousands of businesses and major civil rights groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Anti-Defamation League (AD), have signed up for the campaign.
“We are rapidly approaching one of the most important elections in American history,” the group said in a statement. “Unforeseen and uncontrolled ‘changes’ by Facebook are falling dangerously short of what is necessary to protect our democracy.”
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In June, Facebook said it would tag potentially harmful or misleading posts left for their informational value.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg also said the social media company would prohibit advertising containing claims “that people of a specific race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status” are a threat to others.
- Everything you need to know about the American elections
“The 2020 elections were already shaping up to be heated,” he wrote in a statement. “During this time, Facebook will take extra precautions to help everyone stay safe [and] Stay informed.”
But the #StopHateforProfit campaign called for more to be done, and subsequently more than 90 companies stopped advertising in support of their efforts.
As a result of the boycott, Facebook shares fell dramatically and the US media reported that $ 7.2 billion had been removed from Zuckerberg’s personal net worth.
Regulators and policy makers around the world are concerned about the rise in hate speech, not just on Facebook but on all social media platforms, and many countries are investigating how tech companies are dealing with the problem.
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