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Facebook boycott only part of the solution

Let’s begin with this: Facebook is different from other publishers.

Unlike newspapers, book publishers, and online news sources, Facebook doesn’t generate much of its own content. It’s a host, a platform for other people to post their content, and, therefore, should held to a different, lower standard than other media responsible for creating content.

Which is part of the reason I think the ongoing corporate advertising boycott of Facebook is an imperfect solution to a very real problem.

Let’s recap: Especially since the 2016 election, Facebook has been under intense pressure from civil rights groups and others to do a better job policing the political misinformation and hate campaigns posted on its site.

Amid the global protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a campaign led by the NAACP and other civil rights groups has convinced several major corporations to withhold advertising dollars from the social media giant. Participating in the Stop Hate for Profit campaign are Unilever, Best Buy, Ford, Honda, Levi’s, Pfizer, and dozens more, according to the campaign’s website, StopHateForProfit.org.

It isn’t clear how much money Facebook might lose from the boycott, but most analysts think it won’t make much of a dent in the company’s nearly $70 billion in yearly advertising income (see a story from the Guardian here: https://tinyurl.com/yctybzj6). Thus, Facebook is unlikely to change its ways much.

That’s not the only reason the boycott is an imperfect solution.

Years ago, while working on a story about human trafficking for the Lansing State Journal, I asked an FBI agent why the government didn’t go after the websites used to solicit and sell sex, such as Backpage.com.

Because that won’t solve the problem, the agent told me.

Shut down Backpage, and the sex industry will simply move to some other dark corner of the Web. Resources are better spent arresting pimps and johns, finding missing children, and educating the public about the problem, he said (the government eventually did go after Backpage, too: https://tinyurl.com/yah65pd4).

Similarly, even if the Stop Hate for Profit campaign could force Facebook to pull down every last thread of hate and misinformation, it wouldn’t make any of that go away. People would still be ignorant, and there’s a whole lot of places online where they can get that message across.

That’s not to say Facebook is inculpable. Publishing is one of the greatest powers on the planet, and it comes with great responsibility. At the very least, Facebook should make sure it doesn’t knowingly take advertising dollars from hate groups or those spreading inaccuracies to stoke discord.

But, as I said earlier, Facebook should be held to a different standard. The people posting hateful lies to Facebook — the people generating the content — and the people spreading that content are the real problem, and should be the target of the solution.

I don’t want Russian or Chinese trolls or the Klu Klux Klan infecting my news feed, either, but hitting Facebook alone ignores the responsibility I have, as a reader, to maintain a healthy level of skepticism and to read and research discerningly so I don’t fall victim to misinformation.

It ignores my responsibility to treat my fellow man with respect and dignity, to know enough to know that judging my neighbors by the color of their skin or their religion or their sexuality is wrongheaded and backward.

The Stop Hate for Profit corporations have every right to pull their advertising dollars, and their cause is noble.

But, if they really want to make a difference in our communities, they should pool those millions of dollars that would have gone to Facebook and invest them, instead, in schools or social justice organizations, in police training organizations or public education campaigns. Heck, even in good, solid watchdog journalism outfits that expose hate and misinformation (the Washington Post has done more than anyone in documenting police shootings and the disproportionate way they affect people of color).

A dollar is just as useless sitting Pfizer’s New York headquarters as it is sitting in Facebook’s Menlo Park, California office.

Facebook is just a vessel. It’s not generating hate or lies. It simply carries them.

If the Stop Hate groups really want to stop hate, they’d go after the places where it’s born.

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-358-5686 or jhinkley@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.

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