Lush cosmetics is known for their fair-trade, ethically made and sourced products is taking a stand against the negative health effects of social media by deleting all of their accounts.
The cosmetics brand known for promoting equality, offering ethically sourced products, Lush is taking against the negative impacts of social media by deleting all of their social media pages. Lush decided to delete all their accounts following the discovery of a study conducted by the owner of Instagram, Meta (formerly Facebook), with the results that Instagram is bad for the health of young people.
Lush shut down all social media accounts on the platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram with the company citing they noticed deep problems with the safety on social media. This move comes shortly after the revelation of what has come to be known as the “The Facebook File” that leaked document revealing Meta (Facebook) knew about the harmful effects of young people using Instagram and didn’t publicly release the information.
Whistleblower and former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen, revealed documents showing Facebook knew about the harm it can cause the public but didn’t release the information to the public. The documents’ data that indicates Instagram is harmful to young users under speculation that the social media platform didn’t want bad press over this problem.
Shortly after Haugen’s testified about “The Facebook Files” in front of the Senate, all Facebook platforms shut down for several hours.Facebook claims they had issues updating routers, but some speculate Facebook was changing the platform to contradict the claims made against them. Since the temporary shutdown of the platform, more documents have come forward confirming the claims that Facebook disregarded the health of users that was kept secret by the company.
Lush proposes the argument that staying on social media will be drawing more of their customers to using the harmful platform so deleting their accounts is taking a step toward account ability the company is known for. Lush also disclosed that a large portion of their customers are younger, and they want to protect their customers.
This move is costing Lush already as they previously decided to stop the use of social media during Black Friday and Cyber Monday being the busiest shopping weekends of the year. The UK-based company is estimating a loss of £10 million but is worth it in the name of protecting customers and taking a stand against the harmful effects of social media.
Customers can get updates by subscribing to the Lush newsletter on their official website and features the full statement of the company removing the brand away from social media. Lush states that they won’t be on social media until the platforms can change for more transparency for users and make a safe online environment.