Lush Cosmetics will deactivate its social media accounts later this week in a bid to get tech companies to make online platforms safer.

The U.K. retailer, which sells bath and body products and has a large footprint in Canada, announced its plan Monday to cease posting on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat accounts by Friday.

The company, which likened social media to 鈥渁 dark and dangerous alleyway,鈥� said the deactivation decision is meant to address consumers鈥� mental health challenges and will not be reversed unless the platforms are made safer.

鈥淭here is now overwhelming evidence we are being put at risk when using social media,鈥� said Lush co-founder Mark Constantine, in a news release. 鈥淚鈥檓 not willing to expose my customers to this harm, so it鈥檚 time to take it out of the mix.鈥�

Facebook and Instagram refused to comment on the campaign, while Snapchat and TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Instead of using the platforms, Lush will invest in new ways to connect and for now can still be found on Twitter and YouTube.

Lush had previously tried to abandon social media in 2019 with just its U.K. accounts, but came back when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Lush is now bringing back the deactivation and applying it to all 48 countries it operates in because its 鈥渞esolve has been strengthened鈥� by information from whistleblowers who recently laid out harms young people face because of algorithms and 鈥渓oose regulation.鈥�

Over the last few months, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen accused the company of prioritizing engagement and user growth over online safety.

Documents from the former Facebook data scientist suggested the social media giant knew about the harms its products cause and often did little or nothing to mitigate them.

Courtney Radsch, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said it鈥檚 hard to tell how much success Lush will have with its deactivations because it didn鈥檛 release a specific list of demands from the social media companies.

Getting the platforms to take action, she said, is typically a 鈥渓ong slog鈥� made more difficult because 鈥渁 couple of social media platforms have held the world hostage by becoming the walled gardens where all of our communication takes place.鈥�

Companies have tried to push Facebook to adopt more consumer-friendly policies before, but the tech giant has not relented.

For example, Vancouver athleticwear companies Lululemon Athletica Inc., Mountain Equipment Co-op and Arc鈥檛eryx pulled their paid ads from Facebook in July 2020 as part of a global StopHateForProfit boycott supported by Coca-Cola, Unilever, Honda America, Patagonia and more.

The companies wanted to boycott Facebook because they believed it had not done enough to keep racist, false and dangerous content or white supremacists off its platform.

StopHateForProfit鈥檚 website said studies completed since the boycott found 鈥渘o platform has made significant structural changes鈥� and Facebook made the least progress toward meeting the coalition鈥檚 demands.

So far, Lush hasn鈥檛 had any other businesses take up its fight, which could blunt the campaign鈥檚 effectiveness.

鈥淐ompanies will wait and see what type of coverage this generate in terms of free earned media for Lush versus having to spend on advertising right around the holiday season,鈥� said Radsch.

鈥淎nd then of course, they will also want to see the impact on sales and traffic revenue.鈥�

鈥擳ara Deschamps, The Canadian Press