FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 22, 2021
CONTACT: Kindeya Chiaro, kindeya.chiaro@berlinrosen.com | Kwame Belle, kwame.belle@berlinrosen.com
The Facebook Logout campaign will harness the power of social media users to hold the social media giant to account for continuing to profit off hate and destabilizing democracy
Call for pledges to log off Facebook’s platforms on November 10 comes against the backdrop of new inquiries into Facebook’s toxic impact on users
NATIONWIDE — In the wake of the latest series of damning revelations about Facebook's senior leadership team knowingly allowing the proliferation of harms across its social media platforms, a mass collection of users will participate in a national logout campaign.
Led by Kairos, the digital organizers behind the Tech Is Not Neutral campaign, and supported by a broad coalition of respected civic organizations — including Accountable Tech, MediaJustice, UltraViolet, Free Press and MoveOn — who are known for defending democracy and media access, The Facebook Logout campaign will seek to disrupt the "business as usual" attitude that the world's largest social media company has adopted in response to lawmakers, advocates and its user’s growing concerns.
“The harms caused by Facebook and Zuckerberg extend well beyond users’ experiences online — meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg acts as if he is not culpable and should not be held to account for the real world dangers his company poses in our communities,” said Mariana Ruiz Firmat, Executive Director of Kairos. “Instead, Facebook consistently responds by releasing statements intended to nullify factual criticisms and urgent warnings while doing nothing to change his company’s policies. But what Facebook fails to realize is that users know the power we have over the platform, and we’re tired of hollow apologies.”
Ninety-eight percent of Facebook’s revenue comes from ads targeted at their users — a figure dependent on users’ regular use of and engagement with the platform. The move by the Facebook Logout campaign organizers to mobilize their member base with a reach of millions to log off of the platform by November 10, 2021, pulls on the tried and true economic power of consumers to directly impact bottom lines for companies that shirk accountability.
“We all know that the deadly insurrection on January 6 was largely organized on Facebook after they failed to stop the spread of disinformation about the 2020 elections, putting our lives and democracy in jeopardy, ” continued Ruiz Firmat. “These latest revelations of the insidious profit-driven impact of social media on young people of color only underscores what we’ve long suspected — that Facebook is far more interested in pacifying right-wing extremism than fixing the problems with their platform.”
With this campaign, Kairos is continuing its success with the Tech Is Not Neutral campaign, which pressured Big Tech companies to end partnerships with law enforcement agencies that use their products to surveil Black communities. Kairos is amplifying its demands for Facebook to curb disinformation, increase transparency on content moderation decisions, halt surveillance advertising and end Mark Zuckerberg’s majority power as CEO and Board Chair.
The campaign pledge and Kairos’s demands can be found on the Facebook Logout campaign website that will also track log-off commitments leading up to November 10, 2021.
About Kairos
Kairos builds leaders and strategies for contending for power in the digital realm so that racial and economic justice is possible now and in the future. Kairos trains and encourages organizers in building power online, fights for stronger regulation of the internet and tech companies, creates hard-hitting, successful campaigns that challenge inequity and wrongs, and nurtures partnerships with organizers and leaders around the country. We are changing how social movements organize and build power in the digital realm. Our goal is to build long-term structural change by developing an effective base of digital leaders and technologists of color who can be mobilized and engaged in crucial movement moments while fighting for an internet and technology that allows communities of color to thrive.