A small—though prominent—group of public figures is taking a 24-hour break from the platforms that magnify their celebrity to protest what they see as Facebook’s failure to control disinformation and hate speech.
The campaign, #StopHateForProfit, is aimed at Facebook and Instagram and has attracted such disparate individuals as Kim Kardashian West, Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Ruffalo.
All have said they will not post to their accounts on Wednesday. Collectively they reach millions of followers.
Cohen is a longtime outspoken critic of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, arguing the platform is a publisher and as such should be held responsible for the material on its site.
In remarks last November to the Anti-Defamation League, Cohen said, “It’s time to finally call these companies what they really are—the largest publishers in history. And here’s an idea for them: abide by basic standards and practices just like newspapers, magazines and TV news do every day.”