R.E.M. frontman MICHAEL STIPE calls for Facebook and Instagram BOYCOTT to protest “the FAR RIGHT in America.”
The singer called for people to log out Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Whatsapp, and other platforms between January 19 and 26, writing in an Instagram post:
“I’ll be logged off for the week. Please consider doing the same so corporations like Meta can imagine there might be consequences for helping advance the far right in America and world wide. Or are we too addicted we can’t log off even for one week?”
He continued, adding: “Its so gross. Im really happy to step away for a week as some form of protest—and then I’ll come back and decide what to do from there.”
The companies’ recent decision to remove independent fact checkers and replace them with X-style “community notes” may be one of the reasons for Stipe’s decision to temporarily leave these platforms. According to The Guardian, experts are raising concerns that this change risks older generations who have a “harder” time “discerning the truth” being “exposed to extremist content.”
