(Vancouver) Lush Cosmetics will shut down its social media accounts later this week in a bid to get tech companies to make online platforms safer.
The British retailer, which sells bath and body products and has a strong presence in Canada, on Monday announced plans to stop posting on its Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat accounts by Friday.
The company, which has likened social media to “a dark and dangerous alley,” said the decision to deactivate its accounts is intended to tackle consumer mental health issues and that there will be no go back unless the platforms become more secure.
“There is now overwhelming evidence that we are put at risk when we use social media,” Lush co-founder Mark Constantine said in a press release.
“I am not prepared to expose my clients to this harm,” he added, believing that “it is time” to act.
Facebook and Instagram declined to comment on Lush’s campaign, while Snapchat and TikTok did not immediately respond to a request from The Canadian Press.
Instead of using social media platforms, Lush will invest in new ways to connect with his customers and, for now, he’s still on Twitter and YouTube.
Lush previously attempted to quit social media in 2019 by only deactivating his UK accounts, but returned to platforms at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lush is once again deactivating its accounts and applying it to the 48 countries in which it operates, as its “resolve has been bolstered” by information from whistleblowers who recently exposed the harms young people face as a result of algorithms and “lax regulation”.
In recent months, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has accused the company of prioritizing engagement and user growth over online security.
Documents gathered by the former Facebook IT engineer suggest the social media giant was aware of the damage its products were causing and has generally done little, or little, to alleviate it.
Courtney Radsch, a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation, said it was difficult to say how successful Lush will be with his approach because he did not publish a specific list of his requests to companies that operate social networks.
Getting the platforms to act, she said, is usually a “hard work” made more difficult because “a few social media platforms have taken the world hostage by becoming the walled gardens where all of our communication takes place.”
Companies have already tried to push Facebook to adopt more consumer-friendly policies, but the tech giant has not caved in.
For example, Vancouver sportswear companies Lululemon Athletica, Mountain Equipment Co-op, and Arc’teryx removed their paid ads from Facebook in July 2020 as part of a global StopHateForProfit boycott backed by Coca-Cola, Unilever, Honda America, Patagonia and others.
These companies wanted to boycott Facebook because they believed it had not done enough to prevent racist, bogus, and dangerous content or white supremacists from its platform.
The StopHateForProfit website says studies completed since the boycott found that “no platform has made significant structural changes” and that Facebook has made the least progress in responding to coalition demands.
So far, no company has joined in the Battle of Lush, which could dampen the effectiveness of the campaign.
“Businesses will be waiting to see what kind of coverage this generates in terms of the free media coverage Lush earns versus the requirement to spend on advertising just during the holiday season,” Mr.me Radsch.
“And of course, they’ll also want to see the impact on sales and revenue,” she added.