Kim Kardashian ‘freezes’ social media for #StopHateForProfit

Kim Kardashian West has announced that she will ‘freeze’ her Instagram and Facebook accounts on Wednesday because the platforms allow for hate, propaganda and misinformation to spread. 

The 39-year-old reality star who posts on social media daily and has been paid as much as $1million for social media endorsements said the platforms are allowing groups to ‘sow division’ and they ‘split America apart.’

‘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,’ she said in a lengthy message Tuesday.  

She along with other big name celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Ashton Kutcher, Michael B. Jordan and Sacha Baron Cohen are joining the #StopHateForProfit protest. 

The protest demands Facebook, which owns Instagram, ban pages that promote hate, forbid any event page with a call to arms, and remove election misinformation.  

‘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. Link in bio for more info on how to preserve truth,’ Kardashian West added in her post. 

Kardashian is the seventh most followed person on Instagram with 188million followers and she has more than 30million fans on Facebook.   

The campaign is asking participants to participate in a 24-hour Instagram ‘freeze’ on September 16 and the ‘Week of Action’ will end on September 18 with a call for people to vote. 

The campaign accuses the platform of ‘undermining democracy’ and profiting off allowing hate groups and pages to use their sites. 

More than 1,200 companies joined the boycott as well, including big brands like Unilever, Verizon, Adidas and Ford.  

The protest is led by the same the coalition of civil rights groups that led a month-long advertising boycott against Facebook in July following the death of George Floyd.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Facebook for comment on the protest. 

Facebook has come under fire for questionable ads during the 2016 election and for allowing hate groups to gather on its platforms.

However, it’s unclear if the boycott will have any sway over the tech giant’s practices. 

Facebook was also heavily criticized for failing to take down a self-proclaimed militia group’s online event to calling for an attack on protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin following the police shootingof Jacob Blake, according to The Verge.

On August 26 two people were killed by a 17-year-old anti-protester armed with a rifle.

Afterwards it was revealed that the Kenosha Guard, a group that calls themselves a militia organization, issued a ‘call to arms’ on the platform. 

At least two separate Facebook users reported the account for inciting violence prior to the shooting, but the Kenosha Guard’s Facebook page was only taken down the morning after the deadly shooting.

Facebook said in a statement at the time that the company’s investigation had produced no direct links between the shooting and the Kenosha Guard accounts.