Eddie Bauer drops Facebook ads, adding to growing list of brands protesting site
The #StopHateForProfit campaign says Facebook amplifies white supremacists
Eddie Bauer will pull its advertisements from Facebook in protest of the company's policies, the company announced Tuesday night.
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The outdoor clothing company is the latest brand to protest Facebook after activist groups in the new “#StopHateforProfit” campaign, including the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP and Sleeping Giants, called on large advertisers to cut ties with the social media giant.
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"In support of the #StopHateForProfit initiative, Eddie Bauer will suspend all paid ads on Facebook and Instagram through the end of July, effective immediately," the retailer said in a Tuesday tweet with a link to the campaign's website.
The campaign says Facebook gives a megaphone to white supremacists, does not take down posts that incite violence or contain political propaganda and does not stop "bad actors using the platform to do harm."
Activists are putting public pressure on the site to "stop generating ad revenue from hateful content, provide more support to people who are targets of racism and hate, and to increase safety for private groups on the platform."
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Facebook has come under fire in recent months for refusing to take down the same posts from President Trump that Twitter decided to remove from its website for violating its policies.
Company founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been a staunch defender of free speech on the platform and has repeatedly expressed the importance of allowing users to see the president's content. Facebook employees staged a ritual walkout against Zuckerberg's position earlier in the month.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The tech giant took down an advertisement from Trump's 2020 reelection campaign on June 18 calling on voters to sign a petition opposing Antifa. That ad displayed a red, upside-down triangle symbol, which some experts connected to a symbol used in Nazi Germany.
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"The Nazis used red triangles to identify their political victims in concentration camps, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has said. "Using it to attack political opponents is highly offensive."
The ongoing debacle has also prompted new conversations regarding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which offers protections to internet platforms that edit user content "in good faith."
The North Face, Ben and Jerry's, Patagonia, REI and Upwork have also joined the growing list of brands pulling ads from the platform as of last week.