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Facebook Removes Trump Campaign Ads Featuring Nazi Symbol

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3 years ago

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  • On Thursday, Facebook removed Trump campaign advertisements for featuring an upside-down, red triangle—a symbol associated with Nazi concentration camps.
  • The ads claimed the symbol is associated with the far-left organization antifa, which Trump has said he wants to label as a terrorist organization. 
  • However, that symbol is not commonly associated with antifa.
  • The same day, Twitter flagged one of President Trump’s tweets as “manipulated media” for including altered footage of a fake CNN clip featuring a Black child running away from a white one.

The Red Triangle Symbol

Facebook removed advertisements on Thursday posted by the Trump campaign for featuring a symbol used by Nazis in concentration camps during World War II.

The symbol, a red triangle, was historically used to classify Communists and other political prisoners. In Trump’s ads, that same imagery was used against antifa, a far-left movement that Trump has blamed for recent looting during protests against racial injustice and a group he has said he wants to label as a terrorist organization. 

“Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem,” the post said. “They are DESTROYING our cities and rioting—it’s absolute madness.”

“Please add your name IMMEDIATELY to stand with your President and his decision to declare ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization,” the post adds.

Currently, there is little to no evidence to suggest that antifa organizations were involved in the riots that have occurred during recent protests across the country.

By the time they were taken down, 88 ads featuring the inverted red triangle had already garnered nearly a million total views since first being posted on Wednesday. Also prior to them being removed, many took to Twitter and other social media sites to criticize the president and his team for using the symbol. 

“The President of the United States is campaigning for reelection using a Nazi concentration camp symbol,” Jewish activist organization Bend the Arc: Jewish Action said on Wednesday. “Nazis used the red triangle to mark political prisoners and people who rescued Jews. Trump & the RNC are using it to smear millions of protestors. Their masks are off.”

Later that same day, Facebook said it was removing the posts because they violated its 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 company said. 

While Facebook has removed Trump campaign ads in the past for various other infractions, it has refused to police Trump’s direct posts. Earlier this month, numerous employees staged a walkout over the policy, which has been consistently defended by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 

Though the ad featuring the red triangle has been removed, others with the same text about antifa are still being featured on Facebook. 

Trump Team Defends the Ads With Unsupported Claims

Following Facebook’s actions, Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, defended the use of the symbol in the ads. 

“The red triangle is a common Antifa symbol used in an ad about Antifa,” he wrote in an email. “Pretty straightforward.”

However, antifa is more commonly associated with a symbol that depicts two flags, one red and one black, enclosed in a circle.

Murtaugh also said that the red triangle does not appear on the list of hate symbols provided by the Anti-Defamation League; however, he said it does exist as an emoji and is sold online on common objects like phone cases. According to Murtaugh, sellers describe that symbol as “anti-fascist red triangles.”

But Murtaugh’s statements about the Anti-Defamation League are misleading. For example, the Jewish non-governmental organization has said that its database of hate symbols does not keep track of historical symbols such as those used by Nazi Germany. In fact, it’s said that it only tracks symbols that are currently being used by modern extremists and white supremacists in the United States. 

“Whether aware of the history or meaning, for the Trump campaign to use a symbol—one which is practically identical to that used by the Nazi regime to classify political prisoners in concentration camps—to attack his opponents is offensive and deeply troubling,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, told The New York Times. “It is not difficult for one to criticize their political opponent without using Nazi-era imagery. We implore the Trump campaign to take greater caution and familiarize themselves with the historical context before doing so.”

The Trump team has also faced criticism from the Auschwitz Museum, which noted that the red triangle was, by far, the most commonly used symbol for categorizing prisoners at concentration camps.

Twitter Adds “Manipulated Media” Tag to Trump Tweet

Unlike Facebook, Twitter has begun regularly policing Trump’s statements. On Thursday, that continued when it added a “manipulated media” tag to another one of his tweets. 

That tweet features a video of two toddlers, one Black and one white. The clip is edited to make it seem like the Black child is running away from the white one. The video was further altered by overlaying dramatic music and making it appear to be a clip from CNN, with a chyron screen at the bottom reading, “Terrified todler runs from racist baby.”

The video then continues by showing “what actually happened.” In it, the children can be seen running to each other and hugging. Notably, this portion of the clip is overlaid by the song, “(They Long to Be) Close to You.”

In reality, CNN never even aired that clip at all. In fact, that clip is several years old. 

Twitter added the warning as part of a policy to flag media that “have been deceptively altered or fabricated” in order to trick people or cause harm. 

In late May, Twitter first took action against Trump after he falsely claimed that increased access to mail-in voting will lead to extensive voter fraud. The next day, Trump issued an executive order targeting a 1996 statute that, among other things, allows Big Tech companies to remove content they find “objectionable,” all without any legal ramifications. 

The day after that, however, Twitter continued to censor Trump’s tweets, this time placing a warning over a post where he said, “…when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” 

While the tweet is still visible, it has been marked for “glorifying violence” and cannot be liked or retweeted without comments.

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (The Guardian) (The Washington Post)

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Survey and Census Data Shows Record Number of Americans are Struggling Financially

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7 days ago

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May 23, 2023

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Americans are choosing not to pursue medical treatment more and more frequently as they encounter money troubles.

A recent federal survey shows that a record number of Americans were worse off financially in 2022 than a year prior.

Coupled with recent census data showing pervasive poverty across much of the country, Americans are forced to make difficult decisions, like foregoing expensive healthcare. 

According to a recent Federal Reserve Bureau survey, 35% of adults say they were worse off in 2022 than 2021, which is the highest share ever recorded since the question was raised in 2014. 

Additionally, half of adults reported their budget was majorly affected by rising prices across the country, and that number is even higher among minority communities and parents living with their children.

According to recent census data, more than 10% of the counties in the U.S. are experiencing persistent poverty, meaning the area has had a poverty rate of 20% or higher between 1989 and 2019. 

16 states report at least 10% of their population living in persistent poverty. But most of the suffering counties were found in the South — which accounts for over half the people living in persistent poverty, despite making up less than 40% of the population. 

These financial realities have placed many Americans in the unfortunate situation of choosing between medical treatment and survival. The Federal Reserve study found that the share of Americans who skipped medical treatment because of the cost has drastically increased since 2020. 

The reflection of this can be found in the overall health of households in different income brackets. 75% of households with an income of $25,000 or less report being in good health – compared to the 91% of households with $100,000 or more income. 

See what others are saying: (Axios) (The Hill) (Federal Reserve)

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Montana Governor Signs TikTok Ban

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2 weeks ago

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May 18, 2023

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The ban will likely face legal challenges before it is officially enacted next year. 

First Statewide Ban of TikTok

Montana became the first state to ban TikTok on Wednesday after Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed legislation aimed at protecting “Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party.”

The ban will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, though the law will likely face a handful of legal challenges before that date. 

Under the law, citizens of the state will not be held liable for using the app, but companies that offer the app on their platforms, like Apple and Google, will face a $10,000 fine per day of violations. TikTok would also be subject to the hefty daily fine. 

Questions remain about how tech companies will practically enforce this law. During a hearing earlier this year, a representative from TechNet said that these platforms don’t have the ability to “geofence” apps by state.

Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics, told the Associated Press that app stores could have the capability to enforce the restriction, but it would be difficult to carry out and there would be a variety of loopholes by tools like VPNs.

Montana’s law comes as U.S. politicians have taken aim at TikTok over its alleged ties to the CCP. Earlier this year, the White House directed federal agencies to remove TikTok from government devices. Conservatives, in particular, have been increasingly working to restrict the app.

“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,” Gov. Gianforte said in a Wednesday statement. 

Criticism of Montana Law

TikTok, however, has repeatedly denied that it gives user data to the government. The company released a statement claiming Montana’s law “infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people” in the state. 

“We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana,” the company said. 

The American Civil Liberties Union condemned Montana’s law for similar reasons. 

“This law tramples on our free speech rights under the guise of national security and lays the groundwork for excessive government control over the internet,” the ACLU tweeted. “Elected officials do not have the right to selectively censor entire social media apps based on their country of origin.”

Per the AP, there are 200,000 TikTok users in Montana, and another 6,000 businesses use the platform as well. Lawsuits are expected to be filed against the law in the near future.

See what others are saying: (Associated Press) (Fast Company) (CBS News)

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How a Disney-Loving Former Youth Pastor Landed on The FBI’s “Most Wanted” List

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1 month ago

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April 24, 2023

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 “Do what is best, not for yourself, for once. Think about everyone else,” Chris Burns’ 19-year-old son pleaded to his father via The Daily Beast. 

Multi-Million Dollar Scheme 

Former youth pastor turned financial advisor Chris Burns remains at large since going on the run in September of 2020 to avoid a Securities Exchange Commission investigation into his businesses.

Despite his fugitive status, the Justice Department recently indicted Burns with several more charges on top of the $12 million default judgment he received from the SEC. 

Burns allegedly sold false promissory notes to investors across Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida. The SEC claims he told the investors they were participating in a “peer to peer” lending program where businesses that needed capital would borrow money and then repay it with interest as high as 20%. Burns allegedly also reassured investors that the businesses had collateral so the investment was low-risk. 

The SEC says that Burns instead took that money for personal use. 

Burns’ History 

Burns began his adult life as a youth pastor back in 2007 before transitioning into financial planning a few years later.  By 2017, he launched his own radio show, The Chris Burns Show, which was funded by one of his companies, Dynamic Money – where every week Burns would “unpack how this week’s headlines practically impact your life, wallet, and future,” according to the description. He also frequently appeared on television and online, talking about finances and politics. 

The SEC alleges that he used his public appearances to elevate his status as a financial advisor and maximize his reach to investors.

His family told The Daily Beast that he became obsessed with success and he reportedly bought hand-made clothes, a million-dollar lakehouse, a boat, several cars, and took his family on several trips to Disney World. His eldest son and wife said that Burns was paying thousands of dollars a day for VIP tours and once paid for the neighbors to come along. 

Then in September 2020, he reportedly told his wife that he was being investigated by the Securities Exchange Commission but he told her not to worry. 

The day that he was supposed to turn over his business documents to the SEC, he disappeared, telling his wife he was just going to take a trip to North Carolina to tell his parents about the investigation. Then, the car was found abandoned in a parking lot with several cashier’s checks totaling $78,000

FBI’s Most Wanted

The default judgment in the SEC complaint orders Burns, if he’s ever found, to pay $12 million to his victims, as well as over $650,000 in a civil penalty. Additionally, a federal criminal complaint charged him with mail fraud. Burns is currently on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. 

Last week, the Justice Department indicted him on several other charges including 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud. 

“Burns is charged for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from clients in an illegal investment fraud scheme,” Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Financial crimes of this nature can cause significant disruptions to the lives of those who are victimized, and the FBI is dedicated to holding these criminals accountable.”

His family maintains that they knew nothing of Burns’ schemes. His wife reportedly returned over $300,000 that he had given to her. 

She and their eldest son, who is now 19, told The Daily Beast they just want Burns to turn himself in, take responsibility for his actions, and try to help the people he hurt. 

“Do what is best, not for yourself, for once. Think about everyone else,” Burns’ son said in a message to his father via The Daily Beast. 

See what others are saying: (The Daily Beast) (Fox 5) (Wealth Management)

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