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Rabat – After mounting pressure over Facebook’s policies toward US President Donald Trump’s controversial posts, the popular networking site recently removed both posts and ad campaigns by the President and Vice President for violating Facebook’s “policy against hate” – but not before 88 ads ran on Wednesday and Thursday, totaling nearly 1.5 million impressions.
Trump’s recent posts and sponsored campaign ads for the 2020 election were marked by red inverted triangles, a symbol that has historically been used by Nazi groups to identify Jewish political prisoners in concentration camps, as well as communists, or social democrats imprisoned by the hate group.
“Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol,” Facebook spokesperson, Andy Stone told the Washington Post.
The red triangles appeared alongside the President’s barrage against Antifa groups. Despite little evidence indicating the loosely organized anti-facist movement’s involvement in recent violence, Trump slammed the group by describing them “dangerous MOBS” and calling on his supporters to “stand with your President and declare ANTIFA a terrorist organization.”
German historian Jacob S. Eder called the use of the symbol “highly problematic” and “very, very careless,” while leaders on Trump’s campaign argued that the red triangle is an emoji offered by Facebook and also a symbol used by Antifa.
Aside from the recent news on Trump’s Facebook posts against Antifa and a custom Spreadshirt design that used the red triangle, there is no widespread documentation of the symbol being used to signify Antifa members.
Facebook and Twitter have recently found themselves at the center of growing debates regarding their responsibility for the ever growing hate and discrimination spouted over the popular platforms.
While Twitter has made significant efforts to flag posts for false information, inciting violence, or promoting hate, employees at Facebook have staged walkouts and even resigned after the website’s founder, Mark Zuckerburg, decided not to take action.
