Facebook and Instagram have been removing hateful comments under pop superstar Lizzo‘s accounts after she broke down in a video about the hate she’s faced, a Facebook company spokesperson confirmed to Billboard.
Upon the release of her first single in two years, “Rumors” featuring Cardi B, on Aug. 13, Lizzo hopped on Instagram Live over the weekend and shared an emotional confession about how much vitriol she’s suffered from online trolls. The Grammy-winning pop superstar said that after grinding so hard on the new music she’s put out, she feels more sensitive to the comments she receives.
“Sometimes I feel like the world just don’t love me back. It’s like it doesn’t matter how much positive energy you put into the world, you’re still gonna have people who have something mean to say about you,” she said. “People saying s— about me that doesn’t even make sense. It’s fat-phobic, it’s racist and it’s hurtful.”
While her collaborator Cardi offered her emotional support by tweeting, “When you stand up for yourself they claim your problematic & sensitive.When you don’t they tear you apart until you crying like this. Whether you skinny,big,plastic, they going to always try to put their insecurities on you.Remember these are nerds looking at the popular table,” Lizzo’s also received plenty of tech support.
Facebook and Instagram have been removing comments under her accounts that go against the platforms’ rules against hate speech, bullying and attacks on one’s characteristics, including race, the Facebook spokesperson tells Billboard. The sites will continue reviewing and removing comments and accounts if they break these rules.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, previously announced in February that the company is taking a tougher stance on direct messages. Rather than prohibiting people who violate hate speech rules from sending DMs, the company announced that it would disable accounts that continue to break the rules.
