Kim Kardashian and More Call for Facebook and Instagram Boycott
Kim Kardashian and her fellow high profile celebrities are leading the move to boycott major social media platforms by conducting a so-called "Instagram freeze."
In support of the "Stop Hate For Profit" movement, some A-list celebrities are participating in a 24-hour Instagram freeze on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, in the hopes of calling out Facebook to stop its repeated failures in addressing hate speech and disinformation.
This online protest's ultimate goal is to pressure Facebook (which owns Instagram) to run a tighter restriction on their social media platforms, in terms of blocking misinformation and hate speech.
It could be recalled that in July, big advertisers like Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Verizon also joined the movement and paused their social media ads budget to push Facebook to give in to their demands.
"Stop Hate For Profit" demands a lot of things from the social media giant. First is to take down Facebook Groups that promote white supremacy, hate, violent conspiracy theories, and other harmful content. Second, remove misinformation posts by having stricter fact checks. And third, block event pages calling to arm and eliminate a politician exemption running political and voting contents.
The organization is now encouraging Instagram users to participate in the 24-hour freeze wherein they will only post one content criticizing Facebook and no further activities on the platform for the rest of the day.
So just imagine how the famous photo and video sharing app will look like without any post, Instagram story entries, and foodie snaps? It will surely be a quiet place for everyone spending hours on their feed.
Aside from the 39-year-old reality TV star, other big names also vowed to join the Instagram Freeze. This includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Katy Pery, Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael B. Jordan, Sacha Baron Cohen, Naomi Campbell, Judd Apatow, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Kate Hudson, Rosario Dawson, Isla Fisher, Scooter Braun and more.
On Tuesday night, the "KKW Beauty" mogul said she is taking part in the online protest in an Instagram post. Kim explained she would not tolerate Facebook and Instagram to continue spreading hate, propaganda, and misinformation.
"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, alongside the Stop Hate poster.
"Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy," she added.
In the end, the mother-of-four also encouraged her 188 million followers to join her in freezing their Facebook and Instagram accounts to get the message across the platform's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
While many fans applauded Kim's decision to take a stand on social media, some still criticized her for "sacrificing" a day on Instagram as she will soon be back promoting her businesses.
View this post on InstagramI 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. 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 #StopHateForProfit. Link in bio for more info on how to preserve truth. A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Sep 15, 2020 at 11:50am PDT
READ MORE: Carole Baskin Nightmare: Big Cat Lover Hunted By Missing Ex-Husband On DWTS Debut
