Starbucks and Ben & Jerry’s are next to join Facebook boycott
This past week, Ben & Jerry’s announced its support of and participation in #StopHateforProfit, with plans to halt Facebook advertising starting July 1—joining a long list of companies that are vowing to stand against the social media platform’s inadequate management of its online space. This comes just a couple weeks after the ice cream company proposed the creation of a national task force focused on finding bipartisan solutions to combating racial bias and police brutality, CNBC reports. “Ben & Jerry’s stands with our friends at the NAACP and Color of Change, the ADL and all those calling for Facebook to take stronger action to stop its platforms from being used to divide our nation, suppress voters, foment and fan the flames of racism and violence, and undermine our democracy.” Also joining the fray this week was Starbucks, vowing to halt Facebook advertising while they engage in talks with civil rights organizations about effective ways of stopping online hate speech, according to The Associated Press. Starbucks claims this action was not associated with the #StopHateforProfit campaign. Facebook’s market value has dropped by nearly $50 billion since the campaign began.