Kim Kardashian West has announced that she will join two dozen celebrities in temporarily freezing their Instagram and Facebook accounts on Wednesday
Kim Kardashian West has announced that she will join two dozen celebrities in temporarily freezing their Instagram and Facebook accounts on Wednesday because the platforms “continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation — created by groups to sow division and split America apart.”
Sacha Baron Cohen, Katy Perry, Jennifer Lawrence, Judd Apatow, Ashton Kutcher, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan are among the other celebrities who the #StopHateForProfit campaign says are joining the 24-hour freeze.
More are expected to sign on. The group is calling for Facebook to ban pages that promote hate, forbid any event page with a call to arms, and remove election misinformation, among other reforms.
The announcement from such a high-profile user like Kim is likely to be a PR disaster for Instagram and Facebook, as well as a boost to the #StopHateForProfit campaign. Kardashian West is the seventh-most followed account on Instagram with 188 million followers. She currently has 30 million followers on Facebook.
“I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook, 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,” Kardashian West wrote.
“Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy. Please join me tomorrow when I will be ‘freezing’ my Instagram and FB account to tell Facebook to #StopHateForProfit,” she shared on her social media page.
Facebook has declined to comment.
Facebook in particular has come under fire recently for their handling of pages that advocated violence at protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Recently, an internal whistleblower said the company was slow to act on misinformation efforts that undermined elections around the globe.
