Facebook on Thursday removed a campaign ad by United States President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that featured an upside-down red triangle, a symbol once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners.
The ad which was focused on Trump’s crackdown on far-left group ANTIFA featured a red upside-down triangle with the post. The symbol has been used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners, communists and others in concentration camps, Associated Press reported.
Facebook has removed the ad on the grounds of violating its “policy against organised hate.”
Nathaniel Gleicher, the company’s head of security policy who testified at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday said the company does not allow hate symbols on his platform unless they are shared with condemnation or context.
“In a situation where we don’t see either of those, we don’t allow it on the platform, and we remove it. That’s what we saw in this case with this ad, and anywhere that that symbol is used, we would take the same action,” he said as quoted by media reports.
The ads remained on the pages of Trump and Pence for at least 24 hours and had hundreds of thousands of views before they were taken down.
Trump’s campaign argued that the ads were about Antifa, and the symbol was used by Antifa which, is why it was included in the ad.
The campaign ads alleged that “Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups” (ANTIFA) were causing mayhem and destroying their cities. The ad called on supporters for Trump’s fight against the civil movement.
"The inverted red triangle is a symbol used by antifa, so it was included in an ad about antifa,"
Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said in a statement as quoted by BBC.
"We would note that Facebook still has an inverted red triangle emoji in use, which looks exactly the same," he added.
The president said last month that he would designate the anti-fascist group a "domestic terrorist organisation", although legal experts have questioned his authority to do so.
Antifa is a far-left protest movement which is often considered to be a group of activists who are against neo-Nazis, fascism, white supremacists and racism. Following the protests in the US, Trump had alleged that the group had a role to play in these “violent protests.” The US President had further said that he would designate ANTIFA as a terrorist organisation.
The ads have now been taken down. The social media giant has been previously criticised for its decision for limited moderation and fact-checking of political ads announced last year, TechCrunch had reported. Earlier this week the platform had announced that it would allow users to “turn off” all political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram.
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Facebook removes Trump campaign ads with 'Nazi' symbol
United States President Donald Trump - Bloomberg
United States President Donald Trump - Bloomberg
Facebook on Thursday removed a campaign ad by United States President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that featured an upside-down red triangle, a symbol once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners.
The ad which was focused on Trump’s crackdown on far-left group ANTIFA featured a red upside-down triangle with the post. The symbol has been used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners, communists and others in concentration camps, Associated Press reported.
Facebook has removed the ad on the grounds of violating its “policy against organised hate.”
Nathaniel Gleicher, the company’s head of security policy who testified at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday said the company does not allow hate symbols on his platform unless they are shared with condemnation or context.
“In a situation where we don’t see either of those, we don’t allow it on the platform, and we remove it. That’s what we saw in this case with this ad, and anywhere that that symbol is used, we would take the same action,” he said as quoted by media reports.
The ads remained on the pages of Trump and Pence for at least 24 hours and had hundreds of thousands of views before they were taken down.
Trump’s campaign argued that the ads were about Antifa, and the symbol was used by Antifa which, is why it was included in the ad.
The campaign ads alleged that “Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups” (ANTIFA) were causing mayhem and destroying their cities. The ad called on supporters for Trump’s fight against the civil movement.
"The inverted red triangle is a symbol used by antifa, so it was included in an ad about antifa,"
Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said in a statement as quoted by BBC.
"We would note that Facebook still has an inverted red triangle emoji in use, which looks exactly the same," he added.
The president said last month that he would designate the anti-fascist group a "domestic terrorist organisation", although legal experts have questioned his authority to do so.
Antifa is a far-left protest movement which is often considered to be a group of activists who are against neo-Nazis, fascism, white supremacists and racism. Following the protests in the US, Trump had alleged that the group had a role to play in these “violent protests.” The US President had further said that he would designate ANTIFA as a terrorist organisation.
The ads have now been taken down. The social media giant has been previously criticised for its decision for limited moderation and fact-checking of political ads announced last year, TechCrunch had reported. Earlier this week the platform had announced that it would allow users to “turn off” all political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram.
A letter from the Editor
Dear Readers,
The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.
Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.
In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.
We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.
But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.
I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.
A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!
Support Quality JournalismSHARE