Facebook bans Donald Trump campaign ad which featured NAZI concentration camp symbol – which campaign claims is being used by ‘ANTIFA’
- Facebook removed political ads from President Donald Trump’s campaign, saying they violated the company’s policy against ‘organized hate’
- The 88 ads featured an inverted red triangle, a symbol the Nazis used to mark political prisoners in concentration camps during World War II
- The Trump campaign said it was an ’emoji’ and a symbol used ‘Antifa,’ an umbrella term for far left groups and individuals
- Unusual move for Facebook to get involved in political speech
Facebook on Thursday removed political ads from President Donald Trump‘s campaign, saying they violated the company’s policy against ‘organized hate.’
The 88 ads featured an inverted red triangle, a symbol the Nazi’s used to mark political prisoners in concentration camps during World War II, but the Trump campaign said it was simply an ’emoji.’
‘We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate,’ said Facebook spokesman Andy Stone in a statement. ‘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 campaign said the red triangle was an ‘antifa symbol.’
‘The inverted red triangle is a symbol used by Antifa, so it was included in an ad about Antifa. We would note that Facebook still has an inverted red triangle emoji in use, which looks exactly the same, so it’s curious that they would target only this ad,’ Trump campaign director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.
Facebook removed political ads from President Donald Trump’s campaign, saying they violated the company’s policy against ‘organized hate’
The 88 ads featured an inverted red triangle, a symbol the Nazi’s used to mark political prisoners in concentration camps during World War II
It was an unusual move by Facebook, which has tried to keep itself out of the debate on the responsibilities of social media platforms when it comes to disinformation and hate speech.
Twitter, in contrast, has banned political ads and marked some of Trump’s tweets for fact checking.
A Trump campaign official also points out the symbol is an emoji on Apple phones and the stock ticker in addition to be used by some Antifa groups.
The symbol was featured on Trump campaign ads that warned of ‘Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups.’
‘Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem. They are DESTROYING our cities and rioting – it’s absolute madness,’ one ad says.
‘It’s important that EVERY American comes together at a time like this to send a united message that we will not stand for their radical actions any longer. We’re calling on YOU to make a public statement and add your name to stand with President Trump against ANTIFA,’ it reads.
The ads appeared as paid posts from President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s Facebook pages as well on the Trump campaign page.
The ads had as many as 950,000 impressions by Thursday morning on President Trump’s page and as many as 500,000 impressions on Pence’s page, according to The Washington Post, which first reported on the ads’ removal.
The symbol has a troublesome history. In the 1930s, the Nazi party in Germany used it to n the identify Communists, Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and other members of opposition parties.
‘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,’ said Bend the Arc, a Jewish American organization.
The Anti-Defamation League told CNN Thursday the triangle ‘is practically identical to that used by the Nazi regime to classify political prisoners in concentration camps.’
The Trump campaign pointed out the symbol is available as an emoji on iphones
But Jewish groups noted the symbol’s dark past and ties to Nazis
Trump has railed against Antifa and threatened to label it a terrorist group, attempting to tie it to the Black Lives Matter protests that took place around the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
But there is no formal Antifa organization per say. Instead it’s an umbrella term used to describes groups or people with far-left or anarchist tendencies.
Trump has also railed against social media companies, accusing them of stifling conservative voices and threatening to remove immunity that protects them from lawsuits when it comes to content on their platforms.