New York: Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who has one of the biggest Instagram followings in the world — 188.8 million — has decided to freeze her social media accounts to protest against the spread of “hate, propaganda and misinformation”.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Orlando Bloom, Kerry Washington and Sacha Baron Cohen are among those also taking part in the protest, which is slated to take place on Wednesday.
The celebrities will freeze their accounts for 24 hours on Wednesday.
Kardashian West took to micro-blogging site Twitter and wrote: “I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook, but I can’t sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation – created by groups to sow division and split America apart- only to take steps after people are killed.”
“Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy. Please join me tomorrow when I will be “freezing” my Instagram and FB account to tell Facebook to #StopHateForProfit,” she wrote.
Supporting the #StopHateForProfit campaign, Hollywood actor Jennifer Lawrence, also wrote from her Twitter account:”Facebook ignores hate & disinformation on their site. This is not an “operational mistake.” It is a deliberate decision to put profits over people and democracy.”
Actor Ashton Kutcher, who has millions of followers and is also joining the boycott, said “these tools were not built to spread hate (and) violence”.
According to the media reports, millions of dollars were wiped off Facebook’s stock within minutes after Kim Kardashian West temporarily renounced her popular Instagram account.
The organisers of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, which was launched in June, accuse Facebook and Instagram of not doing enough to stop hate speech and disinformation.
(IANS)