After holding itself out as a bastion of (semi) free speech, or at least the most hands-off in Silicon Valley, Facebook reversed course on Tuesday amid an advertiser exodus thanks to the Stop Hate for Profit campaign.
n addition to policing whatever their definition of ‘hate speech’ from now on and vowing to ‘get better at removing hateful content,’ CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg will be meeting with leaders from groups including the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation league, which organized Stop Hate for Profit.
Launched by civil rights groups three weeks ago, the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, which has a broader aim of curbing hate speech, white supremacy and misinformation on Facebook, has struck a national nerve. Hundreds of companies including top brands Unilever, Ford and Pfizer have pulled advertising from Facebook in July. –USA Today
“Being a platform where everyone can make their voice heard is core to our mission, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable for people to spread hate. It’s not,” Sandberg wrote in a Tuesday blog post, adding that on Wednesday Facebook would release its long-anticipated civil rights audit which began two years ago.
Sandberg said that while the audit had a “profound effect” on the company’s culture, they won’t be “making every change they call for,” but will “put more of their proposals into practice soon.”
Facebook has been pressured in recent weeks to better find and remove posts that include hate speech or lead to voter suppression. The Menlo Park, California-based company has responded to angry advertisers with emails and phone calls to better explain its policies and how it has used software systems to act more swiftly. –Bloomberg
Sandberg claims that the changes are “not for financial reasons or advertiser pressure, but because it is the right thing to do,” adding “We are never going to be perfect, but we care about this deeply. We will continue to listen and learn and work in the weeks, months and years ahead.”
Sheryl Sandberg claims in Facebook post this morning, "We are making changes – not for financial reasons or advertiser pressure, but because it is the right thing to do." https://t.co/a38I76aQGA pic.twitter.com/aZlv1Cdzrg
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) July 7, 2020
According to USA Today, Stop Hate for Profit is also demanding that Facebook hire a ‘civil rights executive,’ submit to independent audits of hate speech and misinformation, remove all hate speech and hate groups, and provide refunds to advertisers whose ads appear next to hate speech.
“Now is not the time for simply statements of support that don’t come with actual real structural change,” said Color of Change president Rashad Robinson. “Now is the time to actually change rules and change behaviors.”
Shares of Facebook dipped and quickly recovered on the news:
Posted in Big Tech & Political news
So Facebook is gonna become even more draconian and stupid!
What a misleading headline. Face of Death Book has no intention of reversing anything. It’s doubling down on “hate speech” and whatever that means. It’s Winston on steroids. Anything their band of goons doesn’t like, will just disappear. You’re crazy if you still use that data mining app.
We’re all really stupid. We don’t know the real reason all the advertisers cut back is because no one’s spending and their revenues are down but they “never let a good crisis go to waste.” Join together ( RICO ) and say it’s because … wait for it … wait, Big Tech bath house homo’s AREN’T CENSORING ENOUGH !!!!!!!!!!!
Sue and own them. Arrest and Gitmo them. NOW !!! We need a right wing NGO bigger and better than SPLC and ACLU put together. Whenever a white Christian gets censored and or is a victim of a far left freak using the courts to persecute, ( like what Hagmann and Quayle are experiencing, ) they can go to this NGO and be defended by the best lawyers free – usually in a class action – AND use their connections to push for criminal prosecution of said freaks.