SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Progressive Groups Pull Ads From Facebook Over Zuckerberg's Keystone XL Agenda
May 07, 2013
A group of progressive organizations announced Tuesday that they will be pulling their ads from Facebook following revelations that its CEO Mark Zuckerberg funded a series of political ads promoting the Keystone XL pipeline, which prompted a social media campaign calling on Zuckerberg to pull his oil-friendly TV spots.
The group of organizations, led by former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), said the source of their protest is Zuckerberg's new political organization, FWD.us, a "dark money" outfit, which was originally created to push for immigration reform. In the meantime FWD.us ran a "seven figure" ad campaign, as Huffington Post reports, for two lawmakers promoting the development of the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (among other conservative talking points).
"Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg recently helped found a dark-money political group to push for immigration reform, but then the group started running ads favoring the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and drilling for oil in ANWR. Why?" Feingold writes in a letter to Facebook members.
Feingold adds:
Zuckerberg and his fellow corporate heavies want to boost senators they think are helping them on immigration. They think running these ads will help their allies, so all other concerns fly out the window.
It's another clumsy example of why ultra-wealthy individual and corporate interests shouldn't be able to buy influence in our democracy.
Feingold and the other groups including 350.org, MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, CREDO, Daily Kos, Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, Presente, and Feingold's Progressives United, have now all promised to either pull the Facebook ads they've already paid for or hold purchases of new ads for a minimum of two weeks, the Huffington Post reports.
"There's a whole lot to dislike about Mark Zuckerberg's decision to run these dirty energy ads," said Vanessa Kritzer, LCV Online Campaigns Manager. "Since FWD.us is continuing to bankroll ads supporting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and drilling in the Arctic, we've stopped running our ads on Facebook."
"While the cynical disrespect of voters that FWD.us illustrates in their ads might play well among Washington's lobbying class, it takes a special level of disdain for the American people to believe that insulting their intelligence is the best way to pass comprehensive immigration reform," said Arshad Hasan, Executive Director of Democracy for America. "Plain and simple: If Facebook executives are going to fund efforts that try to pit progressive priorities against one another and divide the progressive movement, we're going to stop funding them."
Last week, CREDO Action attempted to run an ad on Facebook slamming Zuckerberg for his pro-Keystone ads, but Facebook rejected the ad, saying it violated "company policy."
Becky Bond, Political Director of CREDO added Tuesday:
The ads that truly need to be pulled are the cynical and ineffective anti-environmental political commercials that Zuckerberg and FWD.us are airing in South Carolina and Alaska.
Mother Jones reports:
The ads are no longer on the air, but progressives are nonetheless fuming over FWD.us' tactics. Protesters recently demonstrated outside of Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters, chanting, "Keystone, take a hike. Facebook dislike." CREDO Mobile, the progressive phone company*, distributed signs for that protest and also tried to run an ad on Facebook urging Zuckerberg to kill the pro-Keystone ads. Facebook rejected the ad, saying it violated company policy because it prominently used Zuckerberg's image.
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
350.orgarcticarctic national wildlife refuge (anwr)credofacebookkeystone xlmark zuckerbergruss feingoldsierra clubtar sandstechnology
A group of progressive organizations announced Tuesday that they will be pulling their ads from Facebook following revelations that its CEO Mark Zuckerberg funded a series of political ads promoting the Keystone XL pipeline, which prompted a social media campaign calling on Zuckerberg to pull his oil-friendly TV spots.
The group of organizations, led by former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), said the source of their protest is Zuckerberg's new political organization, FWD.us, a "dark money" outfit, which was originally created to push for immigration reform. In the meantime FWD.us ran a "seven figure" ad campaign, as Huffington Post reports, for two lawmakers promoting the development of the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (among other conservative talking points).
"Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg recently helped found a dark-money political group to push for immigration reform, but then the group started running ads favoring the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and drilling for oil in ANWR. Why?" Feingold writes in a letter to Facebook members.
Feingold adds:
Zuckerberg and his fellow corporate heavies want to boost senators they think are helping them on immigration. They think running these ads will help their allies, so all other concerns fly out the window.
It's another clumsy example of why ultra-wealthy individual and corporate interests shouldn't be able to buy influence in our democracy.
Feingold and the other groups including 350.org, MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, CREDO, Daily Kos, Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, Presente, and Feingold's Progressives United, have now all promised to either pull the Facebook ads they've already paid for or hold purchases of new ads for a minimum of two weeks, the Huffington Post reports.
"There's a whole lot to dislike about Mark Zuckerberg's decision to run these dirty energy ads," said Vanessa Kritzer, LCV Online Campaigns Manager. "Since FWD.us is continuing to bankroll ads supporting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and drilling in the Arctic, we've stopped running our ads on Facebook."
"While the cynical disrespect of voters that FWD.us illustrates in their ads might play well among Washington's lobbying class, it takes a special level of disdain for the American people to believe that insulting their intelligence is the best way to pass comprehensive immigration reform," said Arshad Hasan, Executive Director of Democracy for America. "Plain and simple: If Facebook executives are going to fund efforts that try to pit progressive priorities against one another and divide the progressive movement, we're going to stop funding them."
Last week, CREDO Action attempted to run an ad on Facebook slamming Zuckerberg for his pro-Keystone ads, but Facebook rejected the ad, saying it violated "company policy."
Becky Bond, Political Director of CREDO added Tuesday:
The ads that truly need to be pulled are the cynical and ineffective anti-environmental political commercials that Zuckerberg and FWD.us are airing in South Carolina and Alaska.
Mother Jones reports:
The ads are no longer on the air, but progressives are nonetheless fuming over FWD.us' tactics. Protesters recently demonstrated outside of Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters, chanting, "Keystone, take a hike. Facebook dislike." CREDO Mobile, the progressive phone company*, distributed signs for that protest and also tried to run an ad on Facebook urging Zuckerberg to kill the pro-Keystone ads. Facebook rejected the ad, saying it violated company policy because it prominently used Zuckerberg's image.
_______________________
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
A group of progressive organizations announced Tuesday that they will be pulling their ads from Facebook following revelations that its CEO Mark Zuckerberg funded a series of political ads promoting the Keystone XL pipeline, which prompted a social media campaign calling on Zuckerberg to pull his oil-friendly TV spots.
The group of organizations, led by former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), said the source of their protest is Zuckerberg's new political organization, FWD.us, a "dark money" outfit, which was originally created to push for immigration reform. In the meantime FWD.us ran a "seven figure" ad campaign, as Huffington Post reports, for two lawmakers promoting the development of the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (among other conservative talking points).
"Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg recently helped found a dark-money political group to push for immigration reform, but then the group started running ads favoring the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and drilling for oil in ANWR. Why?" Feingold writes in a letter to Facebook members.
Feingold adds:
Zuckerberg and his fellow corporate heavies want to boost senators they think are helping them on immigration. They think running these ads will help their allies, so all other concerns fly out the window.
It's another clumsy example of why ultra-wealthy individual and corporate interests shouldn't be able to buy influence in our democracy.
Feingold and the other groups including 350.org, MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, CREDO, Daily Kos, Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, Presente, and Feingold's Progressives United, have now all promised to either pull the Facebook ads they've already paid for or hold purchases of new ads for a minimum of two weeks, the Huffington Post reports.
"There's a whole lot to dislike about Mark Zuckerberg's decision to run these dirty energy ads," said Vanessa Kritzer, LCV Online Campaigns Manager. "Since FWD.us is continuing to bankroll ads supporting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and drilling in the Arctic, we've stopped running our ads on Facebook."
"While the cynical disrespect of voters that FWD.us illustrates in their ads might play well among Washington's lobbying class, it takes a special level of disdain for the American people to believe that insulting their intelligence is the best way to pass comprehensive immigration reform," said Arshad Hasan, Executive Director of Democracy for America. "Plain and simple: If Facebook executives are going to fund efforts that try to pit progressive priorities against one another and divide the progressive movement, we're going to stop funding them."
Last week, CREDO Action attempted to run an ad on Facebook slamming Zuckerberg for his pro-Keystone ads, but Facebook rejected the ad, saying it violated "company policy."
Becky Bond, Political Director of CREDO added Tuesday:
The ads that truly need to be pulled are the cynical and ineffective anti-environmental political commercials that Zuckerberg and FWD.us are airing in South Carolina and Alaska.
Mother Jones reports:
The ads are no longer on the air, but progressives are nonetheless fuming over FWD.us' tactics. Protesters recently demonstrated outside of Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters, chanting, "Keystone, take a hike. Facebook dislike." CREDO Mobile, the progressive phone company*, distributed signs for that protest and also tried to run an ad on Facebook urging Zuckerberg to kill the pro-Keystone ads. Facebook rejected the ad, saying it violated company policy because it prominently used Zuckerberg's image.
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.