The Biden campaign going after Facebook once again... this time for running a video ad which falsely accused the former Vice President of blackmailing Ukrainian officials to stop an investigation of his son. On Thursday the Biden campaign sent a letter to Facebook, viewed by the New York Times, arguing the ad should be taken down. While the Trump campaign has been pushing out ads with similar false accusations in recent weeks... the video in question was released by an independent political action committee, or super PAC...called 'the Committee to Defend the President.' Biden's campaign pointed out that although Facebook has a policy of allowing all political leaders platform, the ad by the super PAC was not from a politician but an organization...and so it should have been rejected. The letter came on the same day that Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg delivered a speech in Washington defending his company's approach to political ads, arguing that even falsehoods from a politician were important for public discourse. (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) FACEBOOK CEO, MARK ZUCKERBERG, SAYING: "I don't think its right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy." Zuckerberg faced swift backlash to the speech- especially from Senator Elizabeth Warren who tweeted: "Once again, we're seeing Facebook throw its hands up to battling misinformation in the political discourse, because when profit comes up against protecting democracy, Facebook chooses profit." After the Biden campaign's letter- The Times reported that a Facebook executive confirmed that the ad was taken down. And if it ran again it would be submitted to fact-checking. Read More...
The Biden campaign going after Facebook once again… this time for running a video ad which falsely accused the former Vice President of blackmailing Ukrainian officials to stop an investigation of his son.
On Thursday the Biden campaign sent a letter to Facebook, viewed by the New York Times, arguing the ad should be taken down.
While the Trump campaign has been pushing out ads with similar false accusations in recent weeks… the video in question was released by an independent political action committee, or super PAC…called ‘the Committee to Defend the President.’
Biden’s campaign pointed out that although Facebook has a policy of allowing all political leaders platform, the ad by the super PAC was not from a politician but an organization…and so it should have been rejected.
The letter came on the same day that Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg delivered a speech in Washington defending his company’s approach to political ads, arguing that even falsehoods from a politician were important for public discourse.
(SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) FACEBOOK CEO, MARK ZUCKERBERG, SAYING: “I don’t think its right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy.”
Zuckerberg faced swift backlash to the speech- especially from Senator Elizabeth Warren who tweeted: “Once again, we’re seeing Facebook throw its hands up to battling misinformation in the political discourse, because when profit comes up against protecting democracy, Facebook chooses profit.”
After the Biden campaign’s letter- The Times reported that a Facebook executive confirmed that the ad was taken down. And if it ran again it would be submitted to fact-checking.
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