Yahoo Finance NAACP CEO: Facebook allowed their tool to 'fester racial hatred'
Derrick Johnson, CEO of the NAACP, had some choice words for Facebook (FB) and called for NAACP members and supporters to boycott Facebook and Instagram for a week, starting Tuesday.
“It is really concerning that Facebook allowed their tool to fester racial hatred in an entire race with the goal of suppressing African American votes during the 2016 election,” Johnson explained to Yahoo Finance anchor Alexis Christoforous on Tuesday. “Any U.S. corporation that finds that their product, their service or their tools are being used by a foreign nation to subvert democracy must take immediate steps to remedy the problem, and we simply have not seen enough action by Facebook to address the harm that was done.”
The NAACP’s call to action comes a day after a report released by the Senate found Russia engaged in an extensive social media campaign during and following the 2016 U.S. presidential election in an effort to help elect President Donald Trump. Those efforts targeted several minority groups, including African Americans, Latinos, liberals and members of the LGBTQ community.
Facebook also generated controversy in November when former Facebook manager Mark Luckie published a Facebook post in which he discussed the social network’s shortcomings as a platform for black people to communicate, as well as the moments of racial discrimination he says he experienced as a company employee.
“So many individuals over this holiday season rely on the Facebook to communicate with families and to share memories, so we understand that,” Johnson added. “But also as the NAACP, our goal is to open up the conversation to call on the urgency of Facebook to address the problem as we can.”
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, for her part, published a Facebook post late Monday evening reiterating the social network’s commitment to advancing civil rights on the social network through a civil rights audit started in May. Part of those efforts include working with civil rights organizations like the NAACP.
“They’ve raised a number of important concerns, and I’m grateful for their candor and guidance,” Sandberg wrote in the post. “We know that we need to do more: to listen, look deeper and take action to respect fundamental rights.”
Johnson, who has spoken to Sandberg, contended the Facebook executive seemed “sincere in her words.”
“But our concern is the immediacy of the action as the next steps when you committed a harm for that American community and for Facebook to be proactive to review that harm,” added Johnson.
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JP Mangalindan is the Chief Tech Correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business. Email story tips and musings to jpm@oath.com. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
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