Dutch companies join Facebook boycott to protest lack of effort in fight against racism

A number of Dutch companies, including Unilever and Woonwinkel, have joined the #StopHatefoProfit campaign and will buy no advertisement space on Facebook or Instagram for the month of July. The goal of the campaign is to push Facebook to do more against fake news and racism on its platforms.

The campaign is the initiative of several American activist organizations, against Facebook's apparent inability to stop the spread of fake news and racism on its platforms. According to the initiators, Facebook allowed incitement to violence against Black Lives Matter protesters, allowed Holocaust denials, labeled a website with right-wing extremist links as a trusted news source, and turned a blind eye to voter suppression.

"99% of Facebook’s $70 billion is made through advertising. Who will advertisers stand with? Let’s send Facebook a powerful message: Your profits will never be worth promoting hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism and violence," the initiators said. So far over 300 businesses pledged not to advertise on Facebook and Instagram in July.

The boycott seems to have made little impression on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg so far. In an interview with Fox News he said that Facebook will not intervene, according to newspaper AD. "I don't think Facebook should be an arbiter of truth when it comes to what people are saying online. That's not what private companies are supposed to do."