Kim Kardashian West freezes her Instagram and Facebook accounts for a day supporting the protest #StopHateforProfit.
Being one of the most followed accounts on Instagram globally, Kim Kardashian West said that she would be joining other celebrity users in a protest against misinformation and hate on Instagram and Facebook and thereby freezing her accounts.
I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook, but I can’t sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation – created by groups to sow division and split America apart pic.twitter.com/XkxzABn7qw
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) September 15, 2020
#StopHateforProfit campaign
The initiative is part of the #StopHateforProfit campaign and is organized by civil rights activists. In support of the cause, several celebrities have frozen their accounts on Wednesday for 24 hours.
Kerry Washington, Jennifer Lawrence, Leonard o DiCaprio, Sacha Baron Cohen, Katy Perry have also extended their support against the spread of “hate, propaganda, and misinformation,” freezing all their social media handles.
The main aim of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, launched in June, is to prosecute Facebook and Instagram for not taking enough actions against hate speech and misinformation.
The campaign has targeted Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, earning almost $70bn (£56.7bn) as advertising revenue last year, BBC News reported.
This campaign has been signed up by thousands of businesses and many civil rights groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Anti-Defamation League (AD).
The group said, “We are quickly approaching one of the most consequential elections in American history. Facebook’s unchecked and vague ‘changes’ are falling dangerously short of necessary to protect our democracy.”
Later in June, Facebook said it would be labeling possibly harmful or misleading posts for raising their news value.
Facebook to ban discriminating ads
Meanwhile, founder Mark Zuckerberg also conveyed that the social media company will be banning advertisements containing claims against people of a specific race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status.
“The 2020 elections were already shaping up to be heated,” Zuckerberg wrote in a statement. “During this moment, Facebook will take extra precautions to help everyone stay safe [and] stay informed.”
More than 90 companies have stopped advertising in support of its efforts against the #StopHateforProfit campaign.
As a result of the moment, the share value of Facebook has fallen drastically. US media reported that a loss of $7.2bn, thereby reducing Zuckerberg’s net worth.
With many countries enquiring into how the tech firms are going to deal with the issue, regulators and policy-makers around the world are concerned about the growth of hate speech, not just on Facebook but also on various social media platforms.
Image courtesy of Asatur Yesayants/Shutterstock