After coming under criticism for refusing to take down controversial posts on President Donald Trump's Facebook page, the social media giant has removed an ad for his re-election campaign that used Nazi imagery.
The post, which was taken down on Thursday, described "dangerous MOBS of far-left groups," calling out Antifa, and featured an upside-down red triangle like the ones the Nazis used to identify political prisoners during World War II.
"We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group's symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol."
Trump has been trying to designate the far-left Antifa movement as a terrorist organization. Facebook has been criticized for its lack of action against some of the president'sr's inciting and inaccurate posts. In late May, CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the company's decision to leave up the President's statement "when the looting starts the shooting starts," because he said it offered a public warning to users about potential military action. Other platforms like Twitter have taken a harder stance against Trump's misinformation, adding fact-checking statements or labeling them as 'manipulated media.'
Zuckerberg pointed out Facebook has a policy of either removing problematic content or letting it stay up without any labels, but the company is reviewing its policies. Advertising agencies previously told Cheddar that the company's stances were causing some brands to rethink their Facebook marketing budgets, though none had pulled money yet.
A Trump campaign spokesperson told CNN the symbol was commonly used by Antifa. While the Anti-Defamation League acknowledged some members of the group have used the icon, it is more widely connected with the Nazi movement.
For President Donald Trump, tariffs — or the threat of them — can bend nations to his will.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
