Selena Gomez joined the Hollywood celebrities’ movement in pursuit of addressing the ongoing “serious issue” on Facebook.
On Friday night, Selena Gomez bravely alarmed the Facebook executives about the racist content and misinformation on the social media platform.
Through her Instagram account, the 28-year-old Ice Cream singer shared a screenshot of the message she sent to Facebook’s heads. Aside from Zuckerberg, she also sent the same message to the company’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg.
Selena urged the two moguls to create an action plan to stop the “hate, misinformation, racism, and bigotry” on Facebook.
“It’s been a while since we sat down,” she said. “I am calling on you both to HELP STOP THIS.”
In addition, the Hotel Transylvania voice actress also called on the executives to remove groups and users who keep on spreading hate speech and violence on the site.
Upcoming Election Heightened Selena’s Worry
Selena’s concern over election misinformation pushed her to take the step. Recently, millions of Americans already cast their ballots in the upcoming election.
“Our future depends on it. This is an election year. We cannot afford to have misinformation about voting,” she continued. “There has to be fact checking and accountability. Hope to hear back from you ASAP.”
Selena’s recent move came after several celebrities stopped posting on Facebook and Instagram — which is also owned by Zuckerberg.
Celebrities on #StopHateForProfit Movement
Initially, more celebrities did their job in pointing out Facebook’s failure to control misinformation and hate speech.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian, and Mark Ruffalo—among others—joined the campaign #StopHateForProfit.
They all pledged not to post anything on their accounts on Wednesday. Furthermore, they invited their followers to fight with them in this online battle.
Sacha Baron Cohen, a longtime critic of Zuckerberg, argued that the people behind the platform should be held accountable for the issues.
“Facebook ignores hate & disinformation on their site,” Jennifer Lawrence on Twitter. “This is not an ‘operational mistake.’ It is a deliberate decision to put profits over people and democracy.”
#StopHateForProfit previously called a slew of big-name advertisers like Starbucks, Verizon, and Coca-Cola.
As a result, these companies halted their social media budgets this summer, crippling down Facebook’s finances.
The group aimed to pressure Facebook and the whole company into doing more stringent steps to address the platform’s issues.
As of the writing, Facebook already declined to comment and has not released a statement on how they would stop the spread of hate speech and misinformation.
Screenshot courtesy of Selena Gomez/Selena Gomez’ Instagram Story/Featured Image courtesy of Amanda Nobles – DSC01694/Wikimedia Commons