A few weeks ago, Facebook reported that they had taken action against ads run by President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. The ads featured an upside down red triangle, a symbol described as “Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups”, once used by Nazis to identify political prisoners.
The post on the Team Trump Facebook page shared the message, “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.”
Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman, said, “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.”
The ads were used to attack antifa, calling on Trump supporters to back the President's calls to assign the group a terrorist organization. “Please add your name IMMEDIATELY to stand with your President and his decision to declare ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign responded to criticism of the ad earlier Thursday, and told The Washington Post that “the red triangle is an Antifa symbol.” The ADL said that some antifa activists have used the symbol, but it is not particularly common.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was criticized last month for not taking action on a Trump post that said "looting" leads to "shooting," amid racial unrest across the country. In a related article HERE, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan say they are "disgusted" by President Donald Trump's remarks on the nationwide protests against racial injustice.
Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, compared the use of the symbol to those seen everyday, including yield signs and in cable network stock tickers. She wrote on Twitter that Facebook’s decision was “insane.”