Kim Kardashian West and over two dozen other celebrities are freezing their Instagram and Facebook accounts today for 24 hours. The cause? #StopHateForProfit
The hashtag is a reference to the spread of misinformation on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. The campaign asks Facebook to remove pages that promote hate, have a call to arms, or promote election misinformation. It was launched this summer, and since then, high-profile companies including Unilever, Patagonia, and Verizon have put their weight behind it.
Now celebrities have signed on. Kardashian West has 188 million followers on Instagram and 30 million followers on Facebook. She took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce her boycott.
Axios reports that other celebrities participating include Sacha Baron Cohen, Jennifer Lawrence, Judd Apatow, Ashton Kutcher, Amy Schumer, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Michael B. Jordan.
Social media sites are taking steps to combat misinformation. Facebook has purged pages associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, reluctantly taken action on misleading posts from President Trump, and said it won’t accept new political ads in the week before the election.
But it can often be a game of whack-a-mole, and lies and conspiracy theories make the rounds on the social media site at lightning speed, sometimes with devastating consequences. This week, a former Facebook employee claimed the site often drags its feet when taking down coordinated misinformation from national governments.
In a Facebook post earlier this month, Zuckerberg acknowledged that the election interference we witnessed in 2016 “hasn’t gone away,” and touted his company’s efforts to combat it.
