The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Carli Kientzle at press@freedomfromfacebook.com

NEW ADS: Freedom From Facebook & Google Calls Out Facebook's Pandemic Profiteering

Calls for Facebook's Monopoly to be Broken up & Merger Ban. 

WASHINGTON

Ahead of Facebook's annual shareholders' meeting tomorrow, Freedom From Facebook & Google is launching a digital ad campaign targeting Facebook employees, investors, and analysts calling for an end to the tech giant's pandemic profiteering.

As the shareholders virtually gather, Freedom From Facebook & Google's ads pay homage to years past, when we flew planes over the annual meeting (twice!) The ads, included below, feature planes carrying a banner which say "Stop Pandemic Profiteering. Break Up Facebook," and "Stop Pandemic Profiteering. No More Facebook Mergers."

"Amidst the pandemic, Facebook has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's about as good for public health as Big Tobacco was," said Sarah Miller and David Segal, Co-Chairs of Freedom From Facebook & Google. "As if it's toxicity to democracy wasn't enough, it's business model is now amplifying deadly misinformation about coronavirus while Zuckerberg goes shopping for new tech companies to acquire. But between now and when that first Freedom From Facebook plane flew over Menlo Park in 2018, law enforcers in the U.S. and all over the world have begun to investigate Facebook's monopoly power and ad-driven business model, while its public reputation has rightly crumbled. We'll continue to demand Congress, the FTC, and the DOJ finish the job."

In addition, public interest advocates and frontline workers will host a webinar at 11:00 AM ET TODAY to facilitate a discussion about Facebook's failures and steps the company must take to protect its stakeholders -- not just its shareholders.

The webinar can be joined here

Freedom From Facebook, a diverse group of organizations sharing deep concerns about Facebook's extraordinary power over our lives and democracy, is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to use its broad authority to break up Facebook's monopoly and re-establish competition in the social networking space by spinning off WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger into independent businesses. Freedom From Facebook also calls on the FTC to develop interoperability standards, so users will have the freedom to communicate between competing social networks, as well as implement strong privacy rules to give users more control over the collection and utilization of personal information. Learn more at