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Kim Kardashian is on the list of celebrities who is joining the #StopHateForProfit campaign, which will have stars suspending their Facebook and Instagram accounts on Wednesday.
“I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook,” Kim K wrote and posted to both of her platforms. “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.”
The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star went on to let her fans know that she’ll “freeze” her Instagram and Facebook accounts on September 16 and encouraged others to do the same along with her. Her participation in this campaign is crucial, operating one of the top ten most-followed Instagram accounts in the world with a whopping 188 million followers.
The coalition of civil rights groups that organized July‘s Facebook ad boycott--which includes the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)--announced on Monday it was calling on companies and celebrities to stop posting on Instagram for a day to protest Facebook’s handling of hate on its platform. They are also calling on the company to stop allowing politicians to lie in political ads posted on their platforms.
When Kim Kardashian says Instagram and Facebook spread “hate, propaganda, and misinformation...only to take steps after people are killed,” she’s likely referring to an already highly-criticized incident on the platform. Facebook has been condemned over the past few weeks for being slow to remove a militia group‘s page that allegedly called for armed civilians to enter Kenosha amid protests.
As you probably already know, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse ended up showing up to the protests and shooting three people, two of them fatally. Mark Zuckerberg took the militia group‘s Facebook page down after the shooting, admitting last month that his company made a mistake in not removing the page earlier.
At the time, Zuckerberg said that Facebook hadn‘t found any evidence that Rittenhouse was aware of the page--but it just goes to prove how irresponsibly some people are using the platform, which is something Facebook should be taking responsibility for and taking control of.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Demi Lovato , Sacha Baron Cohen, Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington, Orlando Bloom, Ashton Kutcher, and Katy Perry are among the celebrities who are also showing support for #StopHateForProfit‘s protest by going dark on Instagram today.