Question 1

Can your asks be realistically accomplished by Facebook?

In addition, our ten asks of Facebook are simple and most could be completed in a short period of time, including:

Shut down large groups (many with over 100,000 members) that are full of hate and violent conspiracies

Prohibit blatant lies in political ads

Enable victims of severe harassment to contact a live Facebook employee for help

So far Facebook has responded to this incredible groundswell with a lot of messaging along with some minor changes. But we are only at the starting line, and it is clear that Facebook’s users, advertisers, stakeholders and even many of their own employees demand more.

Answer

Our partner organizations have been working with Facebook for years and will continue to work with them. The Stop Hate for Profit coalition launched this campaign as a last resort because each of the founding organizations had been communicating with Facebook for years. Like businesses that have expressed similar concerns, they came away with vague timelines, shrugged shoulders or empty promises. We are always willing to engage in good faith meetings with Mark Zuckerberg. In fact, several coalition leaders met with Zuckerberg on July 7 in response to the campaign’s success right out of the gate. That meeting reinforced what we’ve known all along – that Facebook wants us to accept the same old rhetoric, repackaged as a fresh response in an attempt to run out the clock on us.

Question 2

Why don’t the coalition members just sit down and talk with Facebook about this?

Question 3

What is Stop Hate For Profit?

Stop Hate for Profit is a diverse and growing coalition that wants social media companies to take common-sense steps to address the rampant racism, disinformation and hate on its platform. It includes thousands of businesses, numerous prominent celebrities as well as some of the most prominent civil rights groups and nonprofit organizations in the country including ADL, Color of Change, Common Sense, Free Press, LULAC, Mozilla, NAACP, National Hispanic Media Center, and Sleeping Giants.

As of January 2021, we are asking that Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet and other social media platforms #BanTrumpSaveDemocracy by permanently removing Donald Trump from their platforms. Access to these services is a privilege, one that Donald Trump clearly has forfeited based on an indisputable pattern of behavior that preceded his calls to violence on January 6. If platforms do not remove Donald Trump by the presidential inauguration on January 20, when there must be a peaceful transition, the Stop Hate for Profit Coalition will call on companies to stop advertising on those platforms.

Our initial focus was on Facebook. Facebook’s policies and enforcement on hate speech, incitement to violence, and misinformation are astonishingly weak, and disproportionately harm BIPOC and LGBTQ+ users. Large groups dedicated to hate and violent conspiracies grow unchecked, and Facebook often recommends users join these groups. Political ads contain bald-faced lies, and even outright voter suppression. Misinformation and conspiracies are considered matters of debate. Victims of online harassment are left with virtually no support. Businesses’ ads are run alongside hateful content. Facebook still has significant work to do in this regard and must do so as soon as possible.

Question 4

Why now?

As the entire world witnessed on January 6, President Trump has profoundly eroded our trust in democracy by using social media to relentlessly spread his big lie about a “stolen election.” These platforms also continue to allow white supremacists, QAnon, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other coup plotters to spread Trump's lies, hate, and violent rhetoric. For far too long, Big Tech has put profits over people and endangered our democracy by looking away as President Trump continuously and unapologetically violated each company’s respective Terms of Service with his constant output of disinformation, hatred and incitement. The platforms unconscionably permitted the President to catalyze violence and promote sedition in our nation’s capital.

Our nation faces a clear and present danger as we prepare for the inauguration, and it is imperative that leaders of the world's largest social media companies finally do the right thing and deplatform the inciter-in-chief before another person is killed or another cherished piece of our democracy is violated.

As a coalition of storied civil rights organizations and advocacy groups, we are also deeply alarmed by what happens after January 20th. It is clear that the seeds of hate have already been sown through countless tweets and posts and streams that have burst forth into a violent real-world reality. The racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, antisemitism, and other forms of hate that were on display on January 6 at the United States Capitol are easy to find with the click of a button on platforms that serve billions of people around the globe. And most worrying, President Trump has given every indication that he will continue to incite violence and sow division even after he leaves office, making it imperative that social media platforms ban him permanently.

Platforms must once and for all choose which side of history they want to be on -- with Donald Trump and the domestic terrorists he incited this week, or with America’s families, leaders, and advocates to safeguard our democracy and protect its children. It is a simple choice.

Question 5

I’m an individual and want to support Stop Hate For Profit. What can I do?

Use your voice to demand social media companies adopt our recommendations to stop online hate and send the message that profits will never be worth supporting hate of any kind.You can also post about the campaign on social media using #StopHateForProfit or share posts and images from the Stop Hate For Profit toolkit.

Question 6

I’m a non-profit or a business. What can I do?

We encourage businesses and non-profits to raise their voices through their various communications channels and join the chorus of individuals who are calling for social media companies to stop hate for profit. We also encourage non-profits and businesses to activate their networks of supporters and customers to raise their voices as well.

Suggested messaging can be found in the Stop Hate For Profit toolkit.

Question 7

Hasn’t Facebook already done a lot? And, didn’t they just announce policy updates? Aren’t you asking for something impossible?

Facebook is the largest communication platform in human history, with almost 2 billion users. Facebook’s annual revenue is greater than GDP of Iceland and Greenland combined, at over $70 billion. They have made announcements of product and policy changes recently, some of which may be incrementally valuable, but none at the scale which is possible and necessary given both their abundance of resources and the harms that they are inflicting on society.