Facebook pulls Trump ad containing Nazi symbol, citing ‘organised hate’ policy
- The ads, which referred to ‘far-left groups’, contained the symbol of an upside-down red triangle, which was used in Nazi concentration camps to identify political victims
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been criticised for letting political candidates lie in their ads on the social network, but have moved against ads that violate other policies
“Nazis used red triangles to identify their political victims in concentration camps,” according to a tweet from Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League. “@POTUS’ campaign needs to learn its history, as ignorance is no excuse for using Nazi-related symbols,” he added.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that a handful of ads and posts had been removed.
“We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organised hate,” the spokesperson said. “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 it used the red triangle to signal an association with Antifa, a loosely organised anti-fascist group. The campaign’s claims that Antifa was involved in recent protests against racism and police brutality were largely disproved, as were the claims about the group’s association with the symbol.