16 September 2020
Newsdesk
Kim Kardashian has decided to turn off her Facebook account for a day to bring attention to a new anti-hate campaign.
The reality TV star has joined the Stop Hate For Profit initiative and will join celebrities shutting down social media for 24 hours.
"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 - only to take steps after people are killed," Kim wrote on Instagram on Tuesday - the eve of the big freeze.
"Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy. Please join me tomorrow when I will be 'freezing' my Instagram and FB account to tell Facebook to Stop Hate For Profit," she urged.
Sacha Baron Cohen, Katy Perry, Jennifer Lawrence, Judd Apatow, Ashton Kutcher, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Michael B. Jordan will also be freezing their respective Facebook accounts for the day, according to reports.
The campaign was arranged by officials at the Stop Hate for Profit coalition, who represent nine civil rights and advocacy organisations.
The online protest follows the deaths of two protestors who were attending a Black Lives Matter rally in Wisconsin last month. Local militia groups used Facebook to post calls for their followers to retaliate. Although Facebook removed the pages for certain groups, it did not delete content advertising their actions, which company leader Mark Zuckerberg called "an operational mistake" earlier this month.
Wednesday's protest will not be the Stop Hate for Profit coalition's first campaign against Zuckerberg and his Facebook executives - in July, the activists urged companies to pause their advertising on the platform, leading to more than 1,200 organisations, including Adidas, Ford and Patagonia, to boycott the company.
