Stop Hate for Profit campaign #StopHateforProfit pulling ads from @Facebook … joining @thenorthface @patagonia @rei and more @adafruit

We joined the Stop Hate for Profit campaign by pulling ads on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook spreads disinformation, hatred, white supremacy, bigotry, racism, antisemitism, and violence. Facebook specifically has ignored the requests from users, companies, and social justice groups to take meaningful action. The stakes have never been higher, we will ALL need access to free and fair elections this fall – Facebook has a chance to listen and make changes. Large companies like VERIZON, COCA COLA, North Face, REI, Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, Magnolia Pictures, (and more!) are pulling ads, companies like Adafruit have as well (frequently updated list of companies is here).

Anti-Defamation League sends letter to advertisers (PDF), urging them to boycott Facebook – Ad Age.

We are supporting the efforts with: The Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Free Press, NAACP, and Sleeping Giants.

What can help fix this IF Facebook is interested? Here are some recommendations –

Provide more support to people who are targets of racism, antisemitism and hate

Create a separate moderation pipeline for users who express that they have been targeted because of specific identity characteristics such as race or religion. This pipeline must include experts on various forms of identity-based hate.

Create a threshold of harm on the platform where they will put a target of hate and harassment in touch with a live Facebook employee to help them address their concerns.

Release data from their existing reporting form around identity-based hate. For example, how many reports of hate speech based on race or ethnicity did they get in 2019? How many, and what kinds of actions were taken?

Stop generating ad revenue from misinformation and harmful content

Create internal mechanisms (for every media format on every Facebook platform) that automatically remove all ads from content labeled as misinformation or hate.

Change the advertising portal on all Facebook products to tell advertisers how often their ads were shown next to content that was later removed for misinformation or hate.

Provide refunds to advertisers for those advertisements.

Prove it: send out an audited transparency report specifically addressing these suggestions.

Increase Safety in Private Groups on Facebook

At the request of a member of a private group, provide at least one Facebook-affiliated moderator per group with more than 150 members. Consider more moderators for even larger groups.

Create an internal mechanism to automatically flag content in private groups associated with extremist ideologies for human review. This content and associated groups would then be reviewed by internal subject matter experts on extremism.

Public statements of support:
North Face 6/19/2020.
REI 6/19/2020.
Adafruit 6/19/2020 & more.
Upwork 6/20/2020.
Patagonia 6/21/2020.

We’ll update this list for as long as possible, it’s probably going to end up being hundreds and thousands of companies, so we’ll link to a resource as it grows.

Full statement by Patagonia (they also do paid day off for voting)…

Patagonia is proud to join the Stop Hate for Profit campaign. We will pull all ads on Facebook and Instagram, effective immediately, through at least the end of July, pending meaningful action from the social media giant. For too long, Facebook has failed to take sufficient steps to stop the spread of hateful lies and dangerous propaganda on its platform. From secure elections to a global pandemic to racial justice, the stakes are too high to sit back and let the company continue to be complicit in spreading disinformation and fomenting fear and hatred. As companies across the country work hard to ensure that Americans have access to free and fair elections this fall, we can’t stand by and contribute resources to companies that contribute to the problem. We stand with #StopHateforProfit in saying Facebook’s ‘profits will never be worth promoting hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism, and violence.” – Cory Bayers, Head of Marketing, Patagonia.

What would you do with $70 billion? – adl.org (PDF).