Washington (AFP)

American ice cream giant Ben & Jerry's has announced that it will stop buying advertising space on Facebook, joining a growing list of big brands who have decided to boycott the social network accused of not doing enough against the messages of hatred.

"From July 1, we will see a pause on all paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the United States," said the confectioner from Vermont.

The #StopHateForProfit campaign, supported by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other rights groups, calls on advertisers to boycott the world's leading social network. month of July.

"We are asking Facebook to take the clear and unequivocal steps advocated by the campaign to prevent its platform from being used to spread and amplify racism and hatred," said Ben & Jerry's.

Sporting goods maker Patagonia added his name to the list on Sunday, joining rivals North Face and REI and independent recruiting agency Upwork.

The move comes as Facebook comes under increasing pressure over its non-interventionist approach to misinformation and inflammatory messages, particularly from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Unlike Twitter, Facebook had decided not to intervene at the end of May against a message from the American president - "The lootings will be immediately greeted by bullets" - about the demonstrations in support of George Floyd, an African-American man who was asphyxiated by a police officer. white, which sometimes degenerated into riots.

In the days following Donald Trump's controversial posts, dozens of Facebook employees expressed dissatisfaction.

On June 17, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg again defended his network's guidelines for freedom of expression. "Accountability only works if we can see what those looking to get our votes say, even if we really don't like what they say," he wrote in a column for USA Today.

Two days later, Facebook removed ads from the Donald Trump campaign. They attacked the far left and displayed an inverted red triangle, the symbol used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners in concentration camps.

© 2020 AFP