Selena Gomez urges Facebook CEO to help stop spreading of hate

Pop star Selena Gomez has written a message to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the social network’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, urging them to help stop the spread of hate on the platform ahead of the November election.

“Facebook and Instagram are being used to spread hate, misinformation, racism, and bigotry,” Gomez wrote in a private message to the Facebook leadership.

The move comes barely a couple of days after reality TV star Kim Kardashian West decided to freeze her social media accounts for 24 hours on Wednesday to protest against the spread of “hate, propaganda and misinformation”.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Orlando Bloom, Kerry Washington and Sacha Baron Cohen are among those who took part in the protest.

Gomez shared the message she had sent to Zuckerberg and Sandberg with her over 193 million followers on Facebook-owned Instagram on Friday.

“I am calling you both to HELP STOP THIS. Please shut down groups and users focused on spreading hate speech violence and misinformation. Our future depends on it,” she said in her message, while also reminding them of the upcoming election.

“We cannot afford to have misinformation about voting,” she continued. “There has to be fact-checking and accountability,” the pop star said, adding that she hopes to hear back from the Facebook leadership at the earliest.

Facebook and Instagram have faced criticism from the organisers of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, launched in June, which accuses the platforms of not doing enough to stop hate speech and disinformation.