MediaJustice Renews Call for Zuckerberg Resignation and Government Regulation
Last week, Frances Haugen, who revealed herself to be the whistleblower who shared internal Facebook documents with federal regulators, addressed Congress and the public with further evidence that Facebook repeatedly chose to put “profits over safety.” Facebook’s actions have long-facilitated the spread of hate, disinformation and other harmful content on its platforms to its 2 billion users and the global community at large.
MediaJustice, a national racial justice hub fighting for a future in which all people of color are connected, represented, and free, has advocated directly with Facebook executives for changes to strengthen their policies and content moderation practices that endanger and traumatize communities of color. As a founding member of the Change the Terms coalition, MediaJustice has spent years pushing Facebook to take concrete steps to curb the toxicity on their platforms.
Said Steven Renderos, executive director of Mediajustice.
“Whistleblower Frances Haugen courageously provided further proof that Facebook’s executive team enabled hate and disinformation on its platforms and misled the public about their own internal efforts to address this issue. While the leaked documents detail some of the pernicious ways Facebook pursued profit over public safety, we have long-known many of the ways that the company has consistently endangered and harmed Black and brown communities.
As the spotlight is on Facebook’s deliberate manipulation of their algorithmic tools that amplify hate, racialized lies and violence, and neglect of content moderation in non-English languages, it is critical to remember that people of color are disproportionately targeted on the company’s platforms. Facebook, despite being implicated as an organizing tool in several high-profile instances of mass violence in the U.S. and abroad, has never responded with sufficient action to significantly lessen the risk of harm to our already traumatized communities.
Facebook’s long-overdue public reckoning should again underscore that it cannot be trusted to make needed changes to their platforms without CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s resignation and the intervention of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to hold the company accountable to the public.”
The Wall Street Journal‘s recent series “The Facebook Files,” drawing upon internal Facebook documents, include further evidence that Facebook’s 2018 algorithm change promotes objectionable or harmful content; Facebook’s tools were used to sow doubt about Covid-19 vaccines; Facebook under-invests in content moderation in non-English languages; and, globally, Facebook is used to incite violence against marginalized communities and facilitated action against political dissent.
For interviews or more information, please contact Christina DiPasquale at [email protected] or 202.716.1953.
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MediaJustice is dedicated to building a grassroots movement for a more just and participatory media—fighting for racial, economic, and gender justice in a digital age. MediaJustice boldly advances communication rights, access, and power for communities harmed by persistent dehumanization, discrimination and disadvantage. Home of the #MediaJusticeNetwork, comprised of more than 100 grassroots partners, we envision a future where everyone is connected, represented, and free.
