Stop hate for profit campaign : Why banks in Canada are joining campaign to boycott Facebook

Canada’s biggest lenders confirmed on Friday they had joined a widespread boycott of Facebook Inc. begun by U.S. civil rights groups.

The groups are seeking to pressure the world’s largest social media platform to take concrete steps to block hate speech.

More than 400 brands have pulled advertising on Facebook in response to the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign, begun after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.

Among Canadian lenders who have vowed to pause advertising on Facebook platforms in July are Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, National Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Desjardins Group, Canada’s largest federation of credit unions, also said on its website on Thursday it will pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram for the month “barring any exceptional situations where we need to communicate with our members or clients’’.