To Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

This should go without saying, but White-supremacist conspiracy theories aren’t just abhorrent; they’re a danger to the lives and safety of people of color and religious minorities. No organization should have room in its operations for strategies based on hate — least of all an organization of your size and cultural influence.

Please take action to restore public faith in your ability to operate a safe, equitable platform by firing Joel Kaplan for his role in leading the far-right conspiracy campaign against Color Of Change and others. Reject Kaplan and his actions today.

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    Facebook: Fire Joel Kaplan and Stop the Racism

    Facebook: Fire Kaplan and Stop the Racism

    Facebook is out of control.

    A recent New York Times investigation revealed that the organization’s leaders have stooped to a new low: Among other things, vice president of global public policy Joel Kaplan hired a notorious GOP public-relations firm to push far-right conspiracy theories to smear the racial-justice group Color Of Change and others.1

    It’s clear that Facebook engaged in this effort to stop these groups from asking hard questions about how the company is harming its users and our democracy.

    But the investigation reveals something even deeper: Some leaders at Facebook — a platform that’s drawn lawmakers’ scrutiny for its role in fueling the fires of hate, state surveillance and even genocide2 — have no problem taking pages from the White-supremacist playbook to further their goals.

    This report deepens what we already knew: Facebook has an outsized hold on the flow of ideas in our society — and a crisis of morality in its boardroom.

    The implications are beyond dangerous: Join our call for Facebook to clean up its act. That should start with firing Joel Kaplan for leading a hateful campaign against Color Of Change and others.


    1. “Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis,” The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/technology/facebook-data-russia-election-racism.html

    2. “U.N. Investigators Cite Facebook Role in Myanmar Crisis,” Reuters, March 12, 2018: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-facebook/u-n-investigators-cite-facebook-role-in-myanmar-crisis-idUSKCN1GO2PN