Facebook removes Trump campaign ad for violating 'organized hate' policy

Facebook on Thursday said it removed an ad run by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign featuring an upside down red triangle similar to one used by Nazis to mark political prisoners for violating its policy on organized hate. 

The ad, which was launched Wednesday, called on supporters "to sign a petition and "stand with your President and his decision to declare ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization.“

“Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem,” the ad reads. “They are DESTROYING our cities and rioting - it’s absolute madness.”

Similar to the triangle featured in the ad — an inverted red triangle was sewn on uniforms of prisoners of German concentration camps, including anti-fascist political prisoners, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

On Thursday, Facebook confirmed the platform had removed the ad for its Nazi connection.

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

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(Photo credit: Facebook)

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said the use of the symbol is “offensive and deeply troubling.”

“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,” Greenblatt said in a statement. “It is not difficult for one to criticize their political opponent without using Nazi-era imagery.”

“We implore the Trump campaign to take greater caution and familiarize themselves with the historical context before doing so. Ignorance is not an excuse for appropriating hateful symbols,“ Greenblatt added.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
 

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