Michael Stipe Calls for Meta Boycott to Protest Far Right Spread

R.E.M.‘s Michael Stipe has urged his social media followers to hitch him in a brief boycott of Meta and its related merchandise to protest their half in “serving to advance the far proper in America”.

Stipe shared his intentions by way of a publish on Instagram on Sunday (Jan. 19), outlining the ‘Lights Out Meta’ marketing campaign which might happen from Jan. 19 – 26, and requested customers to log off of all Meta platforms for the week. As Stipe added, this consists of the likes of Fb, Instagram, Threads, Messenger, WhatsApp, Giphy, Meta Quest, and Ray-Ban Meta sensible glasses.

“I’ll be logged off for the week. Beginning tomorrow,” Stipe wrote. “Please think about doing the identical so companies like Meta can think about there is likely to be penalties for serving to advance the far proper in America and world huge. Or are we too addicted [that] we are able to’t sign off even for one week?”

“Its so gross,” he continued in his publish’s caption. “I’m actually completely satisfied to step away for per week as some type of protest—after which I’ll come again and determine what to do from there.”

Stipe’s determination to participate in a boycott of Meta platforms comes simply days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the corporate’s determination to drop their fact-checking program for Fb and Instagram, noting it apparently made “too many errors and an excessive amount of censorship” and is “too politically biased.”

As an alternative, Fb and Instagram will depend on a way much like the “neighborhood notes” mannequin discovered on X. This, nevertheless, has been met with widespread criticism from commentators who’ve expressed worry it might result in additional misinformation on social media and strongly contribute to the additional unfold of far-right ideologies.

Stipe will not be the one particular person to announce their departure from social media this weekend, with The Remedy‘s Robert Smith additionally telling his followers he’s leaving X on Sunday (Jan. 19) in favour of accounts on Bluesky, Instagram, or Mastodon’s Universeodon. “In any other case I’ll doubtless be outdoors,” added Smith.