The Sussexes are taking a stand. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle support boycotting Facebook to end racism on the platform and are reportedly “working behind the scenes” with the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, reports People. The campaign calls upon businesses and public pages to cease advertising with Facebook in protest of the tech giant’s poor moderation of hate speech.
If social media has taught us all anything, it’s that sometimes misinformation and hate can spread like wildfire. Facebook has especially come under scrutiny in the past for its inability to address and remove posts that promote violence and hate speech, including but not limited to Donald Trump’s post targeting Black Lives Matter protestors, which threatened, “when the looting starts the shooting starts.” Now, even the royals are getting involved to put an end to this kind of platform.
“As we’ve been developing Archewell [Meghan and Harry’s upcoming nonprofit], one of the areas The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been keen to address is online hate speech, and we’ve been working with civil rights and racial justice groups on it,” a royal insider shared with People.
The source adds, “Over the past few weeks, in particular, this issue has become even more vital and they have been working to encourage global CEOs to stand in solidarity with a coalition of civil and racial justice groups like the NAACP, Color of Change, and the Anti-Defamation League, which are calling for structural changes to our online world.”
As per the campaign’s mission, businesses are being asked to “stand in solidarity with our most deeply held American values of freedom, equality, and justice and not advertise on Facebook’s services in July.” Megan, 38, and Harry, 35, are reportedly on board.
“Thank you for embodying the kind of leadership that meets the moment,” wrote NAACP President Derrick Johnson on Twitter. “The @NAACP deeply value your unwavering support to #StopHateForProfit.”