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Facebook removes Trump’s anti-immigrant election advertising
The online network Facebook removed election announcements from US President Donald Trump with statements critical of refugees. Facebook said Thursday that the platform did not allow people to be portrayed as a threat to the “safety, health and life” of other people because of their origin or immigration status.
Election announcements said Trump’s challenger, Joe Biden of the Democratic opposition, was “dangerous for the United States” because, as president, he would allow many more refugees from Syria and Somalia into the country. The countries are called “terrorist hot spots” and reference is made to the current corona pandemic. This suggests that refugees could pose a risk to the health and security of the United States.
Facebook had already blocked ads from Trump’s campaign team in June that contained a symbol used in Nazi concentration camps for political prisoners. Trump’s team had warned of “radical left groups” with an inverted red triangle.
Ahead of the US presidential election on November 3, online platforms are under great pressure to crack down on hate speech and misinformation online. Facebook has now announced stricter rules for paid content on the election process and outcome. Not only would advertisements proclaiming the winner of the presidential election be prematurely banned, but also advertisements intended to cast doubt on the election result.
This could be the case if an election method is described as particularly susceptible to fraud, or if “isolated instances of voter fraud” are used to cast doubt on the outcome as a whole, Facebook manager Rob Leathern said.
Trump has been casting doubt on the electoral process for months and claims, without any evidence, that postal elections are massively misled. Observers fear that the president surveyed will not recognize a possible electoral defeat.
