Facebook, on Thursday, removed a set of ads run by Trump’s re-election campaign because they went against its policies on organised hate. Facebook said that it “does not permit symbols of hateful ideology unless they are put up with context or condemnation”.
These 88 ads featured an upside-down red triangle, a symbol once used by the nazis to designate political prisoners in concentration camps such as Auschwitz. The text on these adds asked Facebook users to sign a petition against Antifa.
These ads were being publicized on Trump’s main campaign page- ‘Team Trump’ and vice president mike pence’s Facebook page. They were seen almost one million times on Trumps page alone. Some of these ads said “dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem. Protesters are destroying America’s cities by rioting, It’s absolute madness, ” Other ads which used the same language but different symbols were not taken down by Facebook.
“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,” Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, told CNN Business.
For those unaware, Antifa is a loosely organised anti-fascist movement organisation. The term itself means simply anti-fascist. The Antifa movement traces its heritage to radical left groups that resisted dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler in Europe in the 1930s. It arrived in the US in the late 1980s, with the creation of Anti Racist Action (ARA) in Minneapolis. Sometimes its demonstrations turn violent. Trump has blamed Antifa for the violence that erupted during some of the recent anti-racism protests, but federal law enforcement officials have offered little evidence of this.
“Whether aware of the history or meaning, for the Trump campaign to use a symbol — one which is practically identical to that used by the Nazi regime to classify political prisoners in concentration camps — to attack his opponents is offensive and deeply troubling,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.
In a defensive statement, Trump campaign said that the red triangle was “a symbol widely used by Antifa.” Tim Murtaugh, director of communications for the Trump campaign added, “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.” Moreover, he said that ” this image is not included in the Anti Defamation League’s database of symbols of hate”. The campaign showed links to several posters and websites that sell unofficial merchandise for Antifa as a proof for their statement. However, no Antifa activists have ever been seen wearing that symbol.
Some prisoners in Nazi concentration camps were identified with coloured inverted triangles sewn onto uniforms to allow SS guards to identify the alleged grounds for being detained, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. US President Donald Trump spent more than $ 10,000 on advertisements itself which started running on Wednesday.
Facebook’s rather contrarian strict action comes when Donald trump recently signed an executive order, aiming to significantly curtail protections accorded to social media companies for their users’ content. While Trump’s initial feud and reason for this order was Twitter, but apparently all other social media companies were caught in the crossfire. Then, just yesterday, news came in that the US Justice Department is looking to push out similar laws, albeit in a much broader and stern manner.
Facebook has been regularly criticised for not taking action against posts which ‘glorify violence’ or spread misinformation, specially when they come via Donald Trump. Just last month, Facebook was criticized for not removing a trump post that said “looting leads to shooting” during racial unrest across the country. This time though, Facebook’s removal of trumps ads could lead to increased mentions between the white house and social media sites.
