Prince Harry and Meghan Markle confirm they support the snowballing ad boycott of Facebook over the spread of hate speech

• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle privately support the #StopHateforProfit campaign that pressures advertisers to withdraw spend from Facebook over its policies on moderating hate speech.
• A spokesman confirmed the couple's stance to Insider.
• The two are high-profile additions to a growing list of brands and companies that have temporarily or longer-term halted ad spend on Facebook and other social media companies over the proliferation of hate speech.
• The campaign to boycott Facebook was launched by US civil rights groups earlier in June after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are privately supporting the #StopHateforProfit campaign that pressures big brands to withdraw ad spend from Facebook until it moderates hate speech and misinformation on its platform more strictly.

A spokesman for the couple confirmed their stance to Insider on Saturday, but offered no further comment. The news was first reported by Axios, which wrote that the pair are quietly encouraging CEOs to support the campaign by civil rights groups.

Axios linked their position on Facebook to their plans for their charity, Archewell, which will focus on well-being among other areas.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are high-profile additions to a campaign that has successfully pressured major brands including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Verizon, and many others to pause ad spend on Facebook for July or longer.

The campaign was launched by US civil rights groups on June 19, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests.

Facebook came under scrutiny at the time after President Donald Trump described the demonstrators as "thugs" and threatened them with violence. In one post, Trump threatened to bring in the military and wrote, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

Twitter added a warning label to the same Trump post on its platform, saying his statements broke its policies on glorifying violence.

However, Facebook took zero action, citing its policies on not fact-checking or moderating politicians' speech. The firm continued to defend its stance on Trump's posts even amid outcry from its employees.

The ad boycott has sunk Facebook's share price, which was down more than 8% at the close of trading on Friday. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg appeared to reverse his company's stance late on Friday, saying the firm would now label posts from politicians that break its policies but remain upon its platform as "newsworthy."