Facebook Removed Trump Campaign Ad For “Organized Hate” Violation

CNN just confirmed a report initially published by the NY Daily News that Facebook removed a Trump 2020 campaign ad over violations of its “organized hate” policy.

JUST IN: Facebook has taken down Trump ads “for violating our policy against organized hate,” it said.

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) June 18, 2020

NBC News reported that multiple ads had been censored by Facebook.

Facebook has taken down multiple Trump reelection campaign ads citing policy violation against organized hate.

Spox tells @NBCNews “our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol”

— Sally Shin (@sallyshin) June 18, 2020

FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg infamously earned the ire of Congressional Democrats and the progressive left after refusing to censor political ads containing alleged “misinformation” (as all political ads have since time immemorial).

Apparently, the offending ad can be seen below: Certain iterations of the ad included a symbol that the Trump campaign intended to associate with the “left-wing mobs” it referenced in the post.

 

Apparently, Facebook deemed that the red upside down triangle is associated with the holocaust after a far-left group posing as a ‘human rights’ organization accused Trump of “campaigning for the 2020 election using a Nazi concentration camp symbol”.

The President of the United States is campaigning for reelection using a Nazi concentration camp symbol.

Nazis used the red triangle to mark political prisoners and people who rescued Jews.

Trump & the RNC are using it to smear millions of protestors.

Their masks are off. pic.twitter.com/UzmzDaRBup

— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) June 18, 2020

In a pattern that is, by now, familiar, the Washington Post ran a story that was published earlier today claiming that the campaign ad bore the ‘nazi’ symbol (it appears WaPo’s main source was the activist group cited above).  The Washington Post’s inquiry appears to have prompted Facebook to censor the post, according to a company spokesman who spoke with WaPo.

A red inverted triangle was first used in the 1930s to identify Communists, and was applied as well to Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and other members of opposition parties. The badge forced on Jewish political prisoners, by contrast, featured a yellow triangle overlaid by a red triangle.

In response to queries from The Washington Post, Facebook on Thursday afternoon deactivated ads that included the inverted red triangle.

The red symbol appeared in paid posts sponsored by Trump and Vice President Pence, as well as by the “Team Trump” campaign page. It was featured alongside text warning of “Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups” and asking users to sign a petition about antifa, a loose collection of anti-fascist activists whom the Trump administration has sought to link to recent violence, despite arrest records that show their involvement is trivial.

“We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate,” said Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman. “Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol.”

However, the Trump campaign (which was quoted in the WaPo article), responded with clear examples of Antifa merchandise bearing the upside down red triangle in question, which one of Trump’s campaign reps described as “an antifa symbol”.

This is an emoji. 🔻

It’s also a symbol widely used by Antifa. It was used in an ad about Antifa.

It is not in the ADL’s Hate Symbols Database. pic.twitter.com/RSzvNT0SrC

— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 & get the APP (@TrumpWarRoom) June 18, 2020

And while several left-wing trolls tried to suggest that evidence of the upside down red triangle had been planted by the Trump campaign, a reporter for – get this – NBC News decided to investigate to see if the Trump campaign really had planted the image…

Hi there. Can you tell me where the image you’re posting originated? Thanks.

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) June 18, 2020

…the verdict? the campaign didn’t just make it up.

It seems like it is a Spain-specific symbol. I’ve seen versions on several Spanish accounts now. Thanks!

— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) June 18, 2020

For anybody who’s still skeptical, check out this online store, which apparently specializes in “antifa-themed” merchandise.

We suspect that almost none of the users who viewed the ad on Facebook made the association, which is why it was apparently flagged by an activist group that’s clearly digging for anything in Trump’s campaign materials that can possibly be portrayed as ‘racist’ or ‘antisemetic’ – however tenuous the connection.

Of course, a quick google search reveals that antifa-branded merchandise frequently bears the symbol, which was reportedly used in concentration camps to mark non-Jewish political prisoners.