I wanted to show my appreciation to the companies who are joining their voice with those concerned about the misuse of Facebook to promote acts of hate. I can’t begin to count the number of stories I’ve heard on the news about hate groups that have banded together as a result of Facebook groups. The President himself has expressed his concern over some of these groups on numerous occasions, calling some “domestic terrorists.” Facebook has a proven track record of promoting misinformation, hate speech, and questionable privacy practices.

#StopHateforProfit is a movement composed of the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Free Press, NAACP, Mozilla, NHMC, LULAC and Sleeping Giants. By joining the growing list of companies that are pulling their advertising money from Facebook as part of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign they are not only making the savvy business move, as adding their name to this list is likely worth a hefty sum in free advertising, but it is showing that companies value consumers over corporate America.

By putting a pause on advertising for the month of July, along with companies such as Acura, Beam Suntory, Ben & Jerry’s, Best Buy, Burton, Chobani, Clif Bar, Coca-Cola, Denny’s, Hershey’s, Honda, Kind, Lego, Microsoft, Patagonia, REI, Verizon and VW (just to name a few) they are putting action over advertising and people over profit.

I personally find it so uplifting and inspiring to find that these businesses are holding these values and making decisions for the greater good, especially at a time when things feel kind of hopeless. People are contracting the coronavirus surpassing record numbers daily. We are seeing police use violence against protesters all across the country. A lot of people have lost jobs or a reliable source of income and may, in fact, be losing their housing soon. For these major corporations to come together to say that they are paying attention, that they see what is going on and that they will use their position and power to make their voice heard in a way that the average citizen cannot. That is truly a beautiful thing.

Don’t worry! You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to make your voice heard. Add your voice to the tens of thousands that have already signed on to the petition here.

To review the list that #StopHateforProfit has compiled of recommendations for Facebook to take to prevent misinformation and divisiveness click here.