Jim Steyer, one of the organisers of the "Stop Hate for
Profit" campaign which led over 1,000 advertisers to boycott Facebook in
July, said the groups are demanding YouTube take down Trump's verified YouTube
channel, which has 2.76 million subscribers.
YouTube is the last major tech company that has not banned
Trump from posting on its platforms. Facebook, Twitter, and Snap have all
blocked Trump after supporters of the president stormed the US Capitol last
week, leading to five deaths.
Trump's YouTube channel gives him the opportunity to
continue spreading false information that the US election was stolen, Steyer
said.
On Tuesday, Trump's YouTube channel posted eight new videos,
including one in which Trump told reporters "I think Big Tech has made a
terrible mistake" by blocking him.
Neither YouTube nor the White House immediately responded to
requests for comment.
YouTube has told the groups it is considering the demands
but has yet to act, Steyer said.
"If YouTube does not agree with us and join the other
platforms in banning Trump, we're going to go to the advertisers," he
added.
"We join in with our coalition partners and ask that
YouTube act decisively to help stop the spread of hate by shutting Trump's
account down,” said the NAACP in a statement to Reuters.
The NAACP, Anti-Defamation League, and Color of Change along
with Steyer's group Common Sense Media, are among the organisers of the Stop
Hate for Profit campaign, which had recruited major advertisers including
Verizon and Unilever to pull their ads from Facebook over hate speech/concerns.
Despite the widespread boycott, Facebook posted record
revenue during its third quarter but agreed to create a role for a head of
civil rights.
© Reuters