By NHMC
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Social Media platforms have enabled the spread of White Supremacy and dangerous conspiracy theories under the guise of responsible content moderation for far too long. As we have learned time and again, temporary suspensions and downranking of repeat offenders, like President Trump, are not sufficient nor appropriate given the gravity of the issue at hand.
The National Hispanic Media Coalition, Free Press, the Center for American Progress, and several allies sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to put pressure on Facebook’s top leadership to address the inaction to curb the spread of Spanish-language disinformation.
Despite repeated efforts by the undersigned groups to alert you of this issue throughout this election cycle, Facebook did very little to curb Spanish-language disinformation campaigns attempting to influence and divide Latinx voters. As disinformation campaigns continue to proliferate post-election, we urgently implore you to address this ongoing issue.
To truly protect the privacy, civil rights, and dignity of the Latinx community, it is paramount that Facebook take meaningful action to ensure that those who are designing and making life-altering decisions behind the scenes mirror the audiences who are most served and impacted by Facebook’s products.
By Araceli Velasco
In the middle of a pandemic, an economic recession, and a resurgence of the civil rights movement, we need Facebook and other social media companies to fight for the safety of our communities, instead of enabling white supremacy and the hunt and murder of our people.
Facebook’s long pattern of complacency amid racial injustices is what birthed the Stop Hate For Profit campaign in the first place. Civil rights organizations leading the cause decided to band together after the social media platform repeatedly made empty promises and gaslit requests for increased enforcement against white supremacists, politicians, and other bad actors who spread dehumanizing and false information.
