MONTREAL -- Quebec banks and the Mouvement Desjardins have decided to join the growing international boycott of Facebook, the social network criticized for spreading racism, violence and disinformation.
For the month of July, National Bank, the Desjardins cooperative group and Laurentian Bank will not advertise on Facebook and Instagram, the companies announced Thursday.
In the rest of Canada, the five largest banks - Scotia, Royal, CIBC, Montreal and TD - as well as brands like Lululemon and MEC have already said they will temporarily stop advertising on Facebook. Globally, several hundred companies, such as Coca-Cola, Adidas, Ford and Unilever, who are demanding that Facebook fight to eliminate racist and hateful content, have led the charge.
The Stop Hate For Profit movement has been deployed by various groups, including the American NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League, which fights against anti-Semitism and hate speech.
This mobilization is a reaction to the proliferation of anti-Semitic and anti-Black posts on Facebook.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2020.
