value against its peers , Facebook has been particularly soft on Donald Trump and his disposal ’s preference for spewing violent rhetoric , misinformation , and outright Trygve Halvden Lie . It seems , after no shortage of pressure , the societal media company has institute where it draws the line for a sit president : the inordinately low bar of invoke symbol used in Nazi compactness ingroup .
While not as directly familiar in its association to the Nazis , the red triangle was one of a litany of unlike badges which were stitch onto the uniforms of prisoners in immersion camps . This one historically connoted left - wingers : socialist , union member , communists , other members of opposition party , and those who had aid to rescue Jews .
That context being what it is , one would imagine it would be hard to argue the overlap in description was purely accidental . Instead , Trump ’s team isclaimingthat the invert red triangle is “ an emoji ” and “ a symbol wide used by Antifa . ” ( Only one of those things is true . )
Screenshot: Facebook
These ads — which , let ’s not turn a loss wad of the present risk , propose relegate political dissidents as terrorists — set about take to the woods on Facebook yesterday . But it was n’t until today , in the middle of Facebook point of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher ’s testimony before Congress that the ad were polish off . “ We do n’t allow symbols that represent mean organizations or ideologies unless they ’re put up with context or judgment of conviction , ” Gleicher say whenquestionedby Rep. Eric Swalwell . “ You obviously want to be careful to allow someone to put a symbol to excoriate it or to discuss it . ”
Team Trump hasflirted withthe use of Nazi symbols for its societal media campaigns antecedently ; Gleicher declined to respond a follow - up interrogative sentence as to whether Trump ’s campaign would look additional consequences from Facebook for repeated infractions . The purpose of Gleicher ’s inquiring today by the House Intelligence Committee was the topic of election security department and misinformation . No Republican member of the committee were in attendance .
Facebook has a well - earned report for inactiveness where Trump ’s habit of the internet bully rostrum is concerned . His infamous “ when the looting starts , the shooting starts ” post — a Civil Rights - era paraphrasis , albeit from the wrong side of story , and a bald-pated call to ferocity on the part of police and secret citizens against protester — was left intact on Facebook even while Twitterhid it . Inleaked audio , Mark Zuckerberg bafflingly claimed the set phrase had “ no account of being read as a cad whistle . ” To a point that ’s true : Adog pennywhistle , like the use of an unnoticeable piece of Nazi iconography , is only supposed to be understood by those in the know , whereas threatening to bourgeon your own citizens is something anyone can immediately comprehend as morally bankrupt .
Facebook ’s languor to respond to clear terror has lead to staff at both thecompany itself , and at Zuckerberg’sconjoined Greek valerian , to protest the inactivity .
For unrelated reasons , if you would wish to cancel your Facebook history , here ’s the link to do that .
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