26 | JULY 16 • 2020 

Fed up after years of dialogue, groups 
call for a halt to hate, incitement and 
misinformation now.

DON COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

M

ore than 1,000 busi-
nesses, large and 
small, are pausing 
advertising on Facebook during 
July in response to a call from 
a coalition of civil rights orga-
nizations headed by the Anti-
Defamation League (ADL), 
the NAACP
, Color of Change, 
Sleeping Giants, Common 
Sense and Free Press.
The coalition asks Facebook 
to take immediate action to 
“find and remove public and 
private groups focused on white 
supremacy, militia, anti-Sem-
itism, violent conspiracies, 
Holocaust denialism, vaccine 
misinformation and climate 
denialism.
” 
It proposes 10 actions in 
three areas — accountability, 
decency and support — for 
Facebook to take in July. 
Included is establishing and 
empowering a permanent civil 
rights infrastructure headed by 
an experienced C-suite execu-
tive, as well as regular, indepen-
dent audits of identity-based 
hate and misin-
formation with 
publicly accessible 
findings. 
The ADL was a 
pioneer in expos-
ing and challenging hate on the 
internet. In 1996, it issued its 
first report on the subject, “Web 
of Hate: Extremists Exploit the 
Internet,
” and began to educate 
communities and the public 

about the threat. This was 10 
years before Mark Zuckerberg 
and four other Harvard 
University students launched 
Facebook globally. 
Today, Facebook 
is a vital commu-
nication platform 
for many, with 
more than 2.5 
billion monthly 
users worldwide. 
The company hosts more than 
8 million advertisers who spent 
$70 billion in 2019, accounting 
for almost 99% of Facebook’
s 
income according to statista.
com. 
While hate groups still inhab-
it dark and isolated corners of 
the internet, they increasingly 
use mainstream outlets to 
recruit, organize and promote 
their agendas. But, it’
s not just 
the hate groups. The bigot next 
door, the uninformed, foreign 
governments, and political 
leaders and movements find 
it a powerful tool to spread 
misinformation and promote 
division. 
The coalition 
launched its cam-
paign in mid-June 
with a full-page ad 
in the Los Angeles 
Times charging Facebook with 
allowing incitement “against 
protesters fighting for racial 
justice,
” having “turned a blind 
eye to blatant voter suppres-
sion” and having “amplified 

white nationalists by including 
news sources with known 
extremist ties.
” They also 
claimed Facebook is “actively 
choosing” not to protect and 
support Black users or call 
out Holocaust denial as hate, 
though it could easily do so.
The ad ended: “Let’
s send 
Facebook a powerful message: 
Your profits will never be worth 
promoting hate, bigotry, racism, 
anti-Semitism and violence. 
Please join us.
”

DISAPPOINTING 
MEETING
On July 7, ADL 
CEO Jonathan 
Greenblatt and 
leaders of three 
other coalition 
organizers met on Zoom 
with Facebook’
s CEO Mark 
Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl 
Sandberg and members of their 
staff. It didn’
t go well, with the 
coalition afterward calling to 
extend the boycott beyond July.
“It was abundantly clear in 
our meeting today that Mark 
Zuckerberg and the Facebook 
team is not yet ready to address 
the vitriolic hate on their plat-
form,
” the coalition’
s statement 
said. “Zuckerberg offered the 
same old defense of white 
supremacist, anti-Semitic, 
Islamophobic and other hateful 
groups … Instead of actually 

responding to the demands … 
Facebook wants us to accept the 
same old rhetoric, repackaged 
as a fresh response.
”
At an online press confer-
ence, Greenblatt called the 
meeting “long on time, but 
short on commitments.
”

What would 
you do with 
$70 billion?

We know what Facebook did.

They allowed incitement to violence against protesters fi
 ghting 
for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna 
Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so 
many others.

They amplifi
 ed white nationalists by including news sources with 
known extremist ties in their “fact checking” program. 

They turned a blind eye to blatant voter suppression on their 
platform.

Could they protect and support Black users? Could they call out 
Holocaust denial as hate? Could they help get out the vote?

They absolutely could. But they are actively choosing not to do so.

99% of Facebook’
s $70 billion is made through advertising.

Who will advertisers stand with?

Today, we are asking all businesses to stand in solidarity with 
our most deeply held American values of freedom, equality and 
justice and not advertise on Facebook’
s services in July. 

Let’
s send Facebook a powerful message: Your profi
 ts will never be 
worth promoting hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism and violence.

Please join us. 

#stophateforprofi
 t
stophateforprofi
 t.org

Jonathan 
Greenblatt

ADL

Mark 
Zuckerberg

A.QUINTANO/WIKIMEDIA

ADL and Civil Rights 
Partners Lead 
Facebook Boycott

The ad that launched the boycott

FACEBOOK

STOPHATEFORPROFIT.ORG

