Shanin Specter of Kline & Specter.

High-profile Philadelphia personal injury firm Kline & Specter has joined hundreds of companies that have decided to halt advertising on Facebook, due to concerns about the social media platform's publication of hate speech and misinformation.

Kline & Specter says the firm does not want to support Facebook financially, and was also "impressed" by other large companies pausing their Facebook advertising—though the firm said it made its decision independently of those companies.

"We decided to pause our Facebook and Instagram advertising, due to Facebook's current policy on hate speech and related issues," said founding partner Shanin Specter.

"We do not think Facebook cares what we do, but we care what we do, and to whatever extent others are influenced by what we do, we hope they join us," he said.

Asked if the firm expects business losses because of the decision, Specter replied, "Yes, significant." But he hopes other firms will follow suit, he said.

Specter said that some of the recent communications from President Donald Trump and his campaign motivated his firm to make the decision.

"In recent weeks, I have felt repetitively that Facebook has been far too permissive in publishing hate speech and other communications that no responsible publisher would publish," he said.

Other platforms, such as Twitter, have taken a more balanced approach to what their platforms will allow, Specter said.

Facebook has its own policies in place to regulate content and user interaction, but many are calling for more action, and even public regulation, to prevent hate speech and misinformation, reports have said.

"Facebook is a publisher, and they should be no different than ALM"—which owns The Legal Intelligencer—"or The Philadelphia Inquirer, yet they permit their platforms to be used to publish communications that no responsible publisher would publish," Specter added.

"Facebook hides behind the Communications Decency Act (CDA) passed in 1996, in particular the immunity provision, which should be abrogated. And they hide behind the First Amendment, which is baloney, because they are not the government—they are a private business that is not required to accept communications on their platforms," he explained.

Section 230 of the CDA provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an "interactive computer service" who publish information provided by third-party users. "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider," according to the act.

Users create the content that goes on social media platforms, although Facebook does exercise editorial control over the content.

"Using artificial intelligence, Facebook could monitor their posts for hate speech, and they choose not to," Specter said.

Specter argues that the CDA should be amended "to provide for civil liability for Facebook and other internet platforms for publishing communications that violate the legal rights of others, such as hate speech, defamation and revenge porn."

A CNN Business analysis of Facebook's top advertisers reported that most of the 100 biggest ad spenders on the platform have not paused advertising. Only three of the 25 largest spenders on Facebook ads—Microsoft, Starbucks and Pfizer—have announced plans to pause their advertisements.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was quick to dismiss the campaign for policy changes.

"We're not gonna change our policies or approach on anything because of a threat to a small percent of our revenue, or to any percent of our revenue," said Zuckerberg, according to The Information.

"My guess is that all these advertisers will be back on the platform soon enough," he said, according to The Information.

Several civil rights groups are supporting the campaign.

According to a statement on the NAACP website, "The NAACP is concerned with Facebook's recent tone-deaf response to the growing outcry over its platform's inaction against hate. While Facebook claims to support 'free speech,' in actuality, they are allowing hate speech to run rampant."