What is the sector doing?
In July 2020 a joint statement by 37 UK charities outlined how together they are reviewing how social media giants could reduce hate speech on their sites.
The Third Sector Social Media Working Group has been created to review ethical social media and marketing practices and policies.
Charities and non-profits use social media for fundraising, relationship-building, raising awareness of key issues, supporting their services, providing vital and trusted information and more. We are working together to develop longer-term recommendations for real and meaningful changes to ensure these platforms do not support, or provide a place for, online hate which causes real harm to real people.
As part of investigating potential platform changes, we are currently looking at: the experience for our beneficiaries, staff and volunteers on social media and their involvement in shaping this project; ethical partner policies for the sector and the impact on wider fundraising; existing data and information on the impact of hate speech on mental health; and ethical marketing practices for the sector.
Our power comes from working together. We aim to produce a collective proposal of clear and concise changes that will benefit the communities we serve at large, and to make recommendations to social media owners, policy makers and the wider public by the end of the year.
To find out more about how you and your charity can get involved or to take part in a working group, please contact Sarah Clarke.
Articles and reading
UK charities come together to address hate speech on social media – Charity Digital
Facebook protest: What that means for the public sector – Dan Slee
How hate speech campaigner found Facebook’s weak spot – The Guardian
Could a boycott kill Facebook? – BBC News
Advertising boycott puts Facebook to the test – Financial Times
Exclusive: Facebook ad boycott campaign to go global, organizers say – Reuters
What’s next for social ad spend as one third of brands plot hate-speech boycott? – The Drum
PR leaders on ad boycott – PR Week
Marketers’ Facebook boycotts are just the 1st step toward change – Marketing Dive
Conversation, not boycotts, is the way to fix social media says Unilever marketing boss – The Drum
Campaigns
#StopHateForProfit
Campaign launched by six organisations (ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), the NAACP, Sleeping Giants, Color of Change, Free Press and Common Sense) asking advertisers to pause their spending on Facebook and Instagram ads for the month of July 2020.
If you are aware of any other resources that may be helpful to charity communicators trying to navigate their way through this issue then please email suggestions to adel@charitycomms.org.uk for possible inclusion on this resources page.