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Labour is boycotting Facebook to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, shadow minister Rachel Reeves has confirmed.
The party is refusing to place adverts with the social media giant this month as part of the Stop Hate For Profit campaign, which is pressuring Facebook to do more to tackle hate speech.
It sees Keir Starmer’s party join businesses such as Adidas, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Ford and comes after Labour MP Dawn Butler, who was forced to close her constituency office over racist threats, called on the party to do more to prove its commitment to tackling racism.
The party has had no active ads running on Facebook or Instagram, which is owned by the tech giant, since June 30.
According to a report in The Sunday Times, Labour staff were told of the decision in an email last week, which said: “This is a complete boycott, meaning we can’t use Facebook to advertise anything at all and can’t use it to boost posts.”
Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, Reeves said that while Labour MPs were using the site, adverts had been pulled.
“All MPs in the Labour Party use Facebook to get across our message,” she said.
“But what we are not doing at the moment is advertising on Facebook and that is in solidarity with the BLM campaign, but also in line with what many businesses are doing this month, which is to express our concerns with the failure of Facebook to take down some hateful material from their platforms and to take more responsibility for the lies and the propaganda that are sometimes put out there on Facebook.
“And Facebook need to do more to take responsibility and this is just one way that businesses and the Labour Party and others can put pressure on Facebook to do the right thing and to take tougher action on hate crime and hate speech.”
Former shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler had called on Starmer to “prove” Labour’s anti-racism credentials after her north London office was closed.
She said: “I don’t blame anyone for being unforgiving and uncompromising in this moment.
“Young black people are seeking meaningful change and commitment and nothing less will do. I completely endorse that.
“The Labour party is an anti-racist party but it has to prove that. It’s not something that is a given, it is something that has to be re-earned.”