This archive report was first published on 19 June 2020.
Facebook has faced criticism for its hands-off approach to political speech in recent months, but the social network has taken action against President Donald Trump's re-election campaign over ads containing a Nazi symbol.
On Thursday, June 18, 2020, Facebook removed the ads, which featured an upside-down red triangle symbol used in Nazi Germany to identify political prisoners.
According to Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, the ads violated the company's policy against "organised hate" and were taken down as a result.
"We don't allow symbols that represent hateful organizations or hateful ideologies unless they are put up with context or condemnation," Gleicher said at a House of Representatives committee hearing.
However, the Trump campaign disputed Facebook's decision, claiming the symbol was "widely used" in reference to left-wing activist group Antifa.
Watchdog group Media Matters countered that this was not the case, pointing out that the Trump campaign had been running "fearmongering" ads about Antifa since early June.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said, "Despite violating Facebook's terms of service, the ads were approved by Facebook in the first place."
