AT&T and Breitbart: Making money from white supremacy together
AT&T has no problem turning a profit from white supremacy and hate speech.
New reporting reveals that AT&T’s digital advertising platform recently restored services to Breitbart, the white supremacist, misogynistic, fake news media outlet formerly run by Steve Bannon that helped fuel Donald Trump’s rise to power.
While Breitbart has lost thousands of advertisers and 90% of its ad revenue thanks to the incredible work of groups like Sleeping Giants and the activism of CREDO members and our progressive allies, AT&T sees an opportunity to partner with a racist, misogynistic, neo-Nazi hate site to make money.
Shortly after the 2016 election, AppNexus, one of the largest advertising exchanges serving digital publishers, took a principled stand and dropped Breitbart from its platform, citing Breitbart’s bigotry and racism. After AT&T’s acquisition of AppNexus, Breitbart urged AT&T to reinstate its hate speech outlet on the advertising platform, and after review, “AT&T concluded that Breitbart complied with its content guidelines.”
That @att’s Randall Stephenson fell for this is ridiculous. By reinstating Breitbart on @Xandr76, ATT’s ad network, they’ve assured their customers that they’re going to appear next to articles like these below. Advertisers, 4300 of them, have already said they don’t want that. pic.twitter.com/mUAziVyuk7
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) August 21, 2019
This is yet another in a long line of examples of AT&T getting into bed with the extreme right-wing to cash in:
- AT&T made more than $1.8 million from Customs and Border Protection’s fascist deportation agenda.
- AT&T donated $2 million to Trump’s inauguration to curry favor.
- AT&T donated $2.7 million to 193 anti-LGBTQ politicians and nearly $200,000 to anti-abortion politicians.
- AT&T paid $600,000 to Trump’s convicted lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to help end net neutrality protections.
- AT&T heavily lobbied Republicans for a massive corporate tax break then laid off its workers.
At CREDO, we will never align ourselves with right-wing hate. In fact, our members choose us because we are fighting every day for the progressive values they believe in. Each month, we donate to progressive groups, like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Detention Watch Network, and we fund an incredible team of activists organizing around issues like civil rights, climate justice and economic equality.
If you’d like to join the mobile company that shares your values, please visit CREDO Mobile to make the switch today.