Last night, attendees of Salesforce’s big “Dreamfest” concert, featuring Metallica and Janet Jackson, were greeted by a massive message projected on the side of the venue and nearby buildings calling out Salesforce’s multimillion dollar contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and directing viewers to a text-in number where they could take action.
During the action, a Salesforce representative offered to arrange a meeting with company executives in exchange for stopping the projections. Fight for the Future will agree to a meeting under these conditions:
- Immigrants rights groups including Mijente and RAÍCES, are invited to the meeting to represent directly affected communities
- The meeting is on the record and allowed to be recorded
- The meeting is with CEOs Marc Benioff and Keith Block
Fight for the Future will continue to escalate until the meeting is officially scheduled and these conditions are agreed to.
The projections, which clearly got Salesforce’s attention, highlighted the #CancelTheContract hashtag, which has spread during the Dreamforce conference. Another directed viewers to “Text BENIOFF to 384-387 to learn his secret.” Texting the number triggers a response with information about Salesforce’s contract with border patrol and a link to take action.
See PHOTOS and VIDEO of the projections here.
The latest protest comes just one day after Fight for the Future, Mijente, and other groups made a splash at Dreamforce with a 14-foot tall, 800-pound, Salesforce-branded cage that represented a Border Patrol detention center. Fight for the Future, a digital rights organization, has been running a campaign at DropSalesforce.com, calling on Salesforce to cut ties and stop supporting human rights violations.
During his keynote remarks at Dreamforce on Tuesday, Salesforce co-CEO Benioff warned tech companies against leaving criticism and feedback from customers and consumers unacknowledged.
“If trust is not your highest value… your employees and executives are going to walk out,” Benioff said.
The statement is feels a bit empty, given that Salesforce is continuing to maintain a multimillion dollar contract with Border Patrol despite the backlash of customers, partners, immigrant rights groups and employees.
“Marc Benioff and other Salesforce execs can pretend to model a socially conscious tech company all they want,” said Jelani Drew, campaigner with Fight for the Future, “But until Salesforce drops their contract with Border Patrol, they actively providing a tech foundation to enable human rights violations. Salesforce is getting real backlash. It’s time for Benioff to decide if trust is his highest value and what legacy he wants to have. He acknowledges that Salesforce isn’t perfect. We’re not asking them to be perfect. We’re just asking them to listen to the people who are affected by their decision to maintain this contract.”
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Fight for the Future is dedicated to protecting and expanding the Internet’s transformative power in our lives by creating civic campaigns that are engaging for millions of people. Alongside internet users everywhere we beat back attempts to limit our basic rights and freedoms, and empower people to demand technology (and policy) that serves their interests. Activating the internet for the public good can only lead to a more vibrant and awesome world.
