Facebookhas removed ads for Trump (including “Team Trump”) and Vice President Pence after they allegedly violated policies against “organized hate.” The promos included a red inverted triangle symbol that is most commonly associated with a Nazi designation for political prisoners in concentration camps, all the while warning against “dangerous MOBS of far-left groups” and asking people to sign a petition about the anti-fascist group Antifa, which Trump has been trying to blame for violence at anti-racism protests.
“Our policy prohibits using banned hate group symbols to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol,” the company’s Erin Marie Saltman said in a statement.
As Twitter and the Trump administration continue to clash over the platform’s decision to finally apply its code of conduct to messages from the president and other political figures, Facebook has taken a strong stance of remaining agnostic in such cases. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg famously stated he doesn’t feel that Facebook or social platforms should be “arbiters of truth” and take a role in moderating comments from political leaders. His position – and, by extension, Facebook’s response – was to allow political ads more leeway with their language so that people could see a politician’s message with transparency. After Twitter removed a Trump tweet with the phrase “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Zuckerberg responded with a message saying “we should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies”. At the same time, right-wing political figures including Trump have continued to accuse social media platforms of demonstrating liberal biases and silencing conservative voices.
The explanation given to CNN Business was “We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate. Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol.” The Trump War Room, the Trump campaign’s official Twitter account, claimed that the symbol is a common Antifa logo. By all accounts from Antifa, it is not.
Whatever the merit behind the removal, Facebook’s move reflects increasing tension between the Trump administration and internet giants it accuses of censoring conservative voices. In addition to objecting to Facebook efforts (including labeling ads as partly false), the administration and its supporters have lashed out at Twitter for fact-checking a Trump tweet. The DOJ, at the behest of Trump, recently released a proposal to remove protections for internet companies and limit their ability to moderate legal content. This latest step might only add to the furor.
