Mercy For Animals Joins “Stop Hate for Profit” Campaign, Pauses Ads on Facebook

On June 17, the Stop Hate for Profit campaign asked businesses and nonprofits to temporarily halt all advertising on Facebook and Instagram in an effort to fight hate and discrimination being spread on these platforms. According to the campaign, Facebook has a history of suppressing Black voices and refusing to take responsibility for bias and discrimination on its platforms. The campaign website states:
Stop Hate for Profit is a diverse and growing coalition that wants Facebook to take common-sense steps to address the rampant racism, disinformation and hate on its platform. It includes some of the most prominent civil rights groups and nonprofit organizations in the country including ADL, Color of Change, Common Sense, Free Press, LULAC, Mozilla, NAACP, National Hispanic Media Center, and Sleeping Giants.
Most of Facebook’s profits come from advertising, meaning companies and nonprofits can speak with their dollars. Over 1,000 advertisers, including Ford, Verizon, and Honda, have agreed to pause advertisements. Mercy For Animals is standing against hate by joining this campaign. Our senior vice president of engagement, Jesse Marks, said:
Since its inception, Mercy For Animals has known that fighting for the rights of any oppressed group helps protect the rights of all. We are proud to join the Stop Hate for Profit campaign and stand against hate and discrimination.
The goal of the campaign is to encourage Mark Zuckerberg to address the negative effects of Facebook directly by adhering to some of Stop Hate for Profit’s recommended next steps. These include submitting independent audits of hate and misinformation spread on Facebook’s platforms and making the information publicly available; tracking and removing private groups centered on white supremacy, antisemitism, and potentially dangerous misinformation; and creating a mechanism that automatically flags hateful content in private groups.


In addition to urging Facebook to fight racism and violence, the Stop Hate for Profit campaign is amplifying Black voices. Coalition partner Color Of Change, a nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization that has worked for five years to make Facebook safer for Black people, states that the campaign is not asking organizations for racial justice to pause their ads:
Color Of Change is not stopping Facebook ads, and we’re not asking organizations, especially organizations fighting for racial justice, to stop their ads either. By choosing to halt ads for July, companies are doing their part to make it easier for messages demanding justice for Black people to reach a larger audience online.
Injustice and hate erode values we all hold dear, like compassion, respect, and equality. It’s up to all of us to protect these values. Take a stand by signing the Stop Hate for Profit petition and posting about the campaign, using the #StopHateForProfit hashtag.