Civil rights groups slam Facebook, call for ad boycott

Angela Lang / CNET

Six civil rights groups are calling on companies to stop advertising on Facebook as part of a campaign called #StopHateforProfit in July to get the social network to do more against hate speech and misinformation.

On Friday, the outdoor clothing brand The North Face announced on Twitter that it would join the campaign. “We’re in. We’re out @Facebook #StopHateForProfit,” the company said in a tweet.

The step of the well-known brand shows that the ad boycott is gradually gaining momentum. On Thursday, digital advertising company 360i emailed its customers to stop buying ads on Facebook in July, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Colors of Change, Free Press, and Common Sense say the boycott of advertising on Facebook will put pressure on the platform to support their $ 70 billion in annual advertising revenue to use by people who are victims of racism and hate it and to increase security for private groups on the website.

“We have long seen how Facebook has let some of the worst elements of society into our home and into our lives. If this hatred spreads online, it does tremendous damage and is also allowed offline,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of Anti Defamation League, in a press release on Wednesday. “Our organizations have individually and collectively tried to push Facebook to make their platforms more secure, but they have repeatedly failed to take reasonable action. We hope that this campaign will finally show Facebook how much its users and advertisers want serious changes for the better . “

According to the ADL survey of Americans using social media, more than 55 percent of Facebook users said they experienced hate and harassment on the platform.

The rights groups say Facebook has allowed content that could lead to violence against demonstrators who are fighting for racial justice after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks. Facebook has been criticized for not removing a protest-related post by President Donald Trump that stakeholders, and even the company’s own employees, said it could cause violence. Trump has included the controversial phrase “When the looting begins, the shooting begins” in the social media post. Twitter hid Trump’s tweet with a note that the post violated its rules against “glorifying violence,” but also included a button for users to read the tweet. Facebook has taken no action against Trump’s post because the company has determined that it is not breaking its rules.

Facebook has also added Breitbart News, a far-right website, to its news service as a “trusted” source, and the right-wing news and opinion site, The Daily Caller, is one of the company’s partners to verify facts. Facebook has taken no action against Trump’s misinformation about mail-in ballots, and the groups say the social network “has closed its eyes to the apparent suppression of voters.”

“Let’s send a strong message to Facebook: your profits will never be worth promoting hatred, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism and violence,” the StopHateforProfit campaign website said. The list of groups’ recommendations for Facebook includes the creation of a separate “moderation pipeline” for hate speech. Allow users who have been attacked with hate or harassment to speak directly to a Facebook employee; and removing any ads that contain hate speech or misinformation.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Nick Clegg, Facebook vice president of global affairs and communications, said the company did not allow hate speech on its platform. Facebook removed nearly 10 million posts for hate speech rules violations in the last quarter, and most were removed before users reported them. The social network relies on a mix of human reviewers and technology to moderate but recognize content Hate speech can be challenging because machines need to understand the cultural context of words.

“Of course we want to do it better,” said Clegg. “We have to do more. We have to move faster, but we are making significant progress.”

Trump’s false claims about mail-in ballot papers did not violate the company’s anti-voter suppression rules, as his comments were addressed to state authorities and he was involved in a debate about mail-in polls rather than the people from the poll to stop, said Clegg.

The Facebook advertising boycott campaign took place one day after the company’s announcement that some users in the United States could turn off political advertising. The social network also tries to help 4 million people register to vote and has one new online hub for voter information.