Facebook decides to take down Trump 2020 campaign's 'census' ads

By Elizabeth Culliford and Nick Brown

 

FILE PHOTO: A Facebook logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

 

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc on Thursday removed ads by President Donald Trump's re-election campaign that asked users to fill out an "Official 2020 Congressional District Census" because the ads violate the company's policy against misinformation on the government's census.

 

The ads, which come from the pages of the Republican president and Vice President Mike Pence, link to a survey on an official campaign website and then to a page asking for donations.

 

"We need Patriotic Americans like YOU to respond to this census, so we can develop a winning strategy for YOUR STATE," the ad read.

 

The online newsletter Popular Information, which first reported on the ads, said Facebook had originally said they did not violate its policy.

 

Civil rights advocates said they pushed Facebook to remove the ads and Facebook confirmed it re-reviewed them.

 

The social media company, which has come under fire for allowing politicians to run misleading advertisements, said in December it would ban ads that aim to limit participation in the U.S. census, which officials and lawmakers fear could be targeted by disinformation aiming to disrupt the count.

 

"There are policies in place to prevent confusion around the official U.S. Census and this is an example of those being enforced," Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement.

 

Earlier on Thursday, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, slammed Facebook before it decided to remove the ads.

 

"I know the profit motive is their business model. But it should not come at the cost of counting who is in our country, so that we can provide the services and the rest,” said Pelosi, speaking at a press conference.

 

The Trump campaign and the Census Bureau did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

 

The 2020 census became a political lightning rod when the Trump administration announced plans in 2018 to add a question asking respondents if they were U.S. citizens. The move, which was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, was criticized by some states and civil liberties groups who said the question was meant to deter immigrants from participating and help Republicans gain seats in the U.S. Congress.

 

Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform wrote a letter to the Republican National Committee on Thursday, requesting that it stop sending communications that resemble official census documents, citing news reports of fundraising mailers sent by the RNC that say "2020 Congressional District Census" and include questionnaires.

 

“These mailers are fully compliant with the law, clearly marked as a fundraising solicitation from the Republican National Committee, and in no way resemble the official government census. We are adding language to future mailers to make it even more obvious,” said an RNC spokeswoman.

 

The count, which takes place once a decade, is expected to be filled out largely online for the first time in 2020.

 

Census officials have been concerned that the census, whose data is used to allocate seats in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures, and to guide the federal government in allocating $1.5 trillion a year in aid, could be a target for disinformation.

 

The Census Bureau has purchased dozens of web addresses with "census" or other keywords in the title, to make it harder for potential imposter sites to operate, and held numerous meetings with Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, in hopes of getting some help monitoring for bad actors.

 

(Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in San Francisco and Nick Brown in New York; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Dan Grebler and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-06

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Ah it’s just Donald begging for money in a tricky way who would have thought lol

Facebook, the lefty propoganda machine.

FB is admitting that they think their users are too stupid to know the difference between this and the real census.

FB just being prudent to make sure the donation wouldn’t end up with another Donald portrait in his resort. 

23 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

FB is admitting that they think their users are too stupid to know the difference between this and the real census.

No, just those that vote for trump.

Anything coming from repub campaign should be automatically refused until proven legitimate.

 

16000 lies does not give confidence.

13 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Anything coming from repub campaign should be automatically refused until proven legitimate.

 

16000 lies does not give confidence.

55555....pretty much true.  They can't help themselves because the truth is always against them.  I'll bet every single Trump campaign ad for 2020 will have some element of half-truths or outright lies. 

2 hours ago, jesimps said:

Facebook, the lefty propoganda machine.

Ask Brad Parscale what he thinks of the role of FB in the last presidential election.  With your comment you've quite succinctly displayed your true nature and cognitive abilities.

Edited March 6, 20206 yr by gamb00ler
elucidation

look up, google / youtube / facebook are using THEIR POWER to try to elect the president they want

 

censor information which you don't need

 

and give top results for their SPONSORS

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

FB is admitting that they think their users are too stupid to know the difference between this and the real census.

Is there any doubt that Facebook have the data on how stupid people are?

At long last Facebook gets something right.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Facebook decides to take down Trump

????

I am surprised that Trumpers did not already start complaining about discrimination by social media.

57 minutes ago, candide said:

I am surprised that Trumpers did not already start complaining about discrimination by social media.

They’ not yet received their updated talking points, they’ll be along as soon a share instructions are received.

1 hour ago, candide said:

I am surprised that Trumpers did not already start complaining about discrimination by social media.

They surely have that right or do you believe otherwise ?

Does the right of protest now only belong to the looney left in America?

Faceache has done a pretty good job of protecting anti American terrorists and now they want to give a leg up to the “not the Democratic Party”

Carry on. 

4 minutes ago, twocatsmac said:

They surely have that right or do you believe otherwise ?

Does the right of protest now only belong to the looney left in America?

Faceache has done a pretty good job of protecting anti American terrorists and now they want to give a leg up to the “not the Democratic Party”

Carry on. 

Instructions received! ????

8 hours ago, Berkshire said:

55555....pretty much true.  They can't help themselves because the truth is always against them.  I'll bet every single Trump campaign ad for 2020 will have some element of half-truths or outright lies. 

I would bet that every democratic ad would be "Half-truths" also .  Just politics  that how it works .  

13 hours ago, webfact said:

Civil rights advocates said they pushed Facebook to remove the ads and Facebook confirmed it re-reviewed them.

they pushed to remove the ads but FB only re-reviewed them.... what's wrong here, they are misleading ads they should be removed, isn't the FB CEO who made a public statement saying FB would not interfere with 2020 election like they did in 2016 election or was he just blowing hot air

3 hours ago, sangtip2 said:

I would bet that every democratic ad would be "Half-truths" also .  Just politics  that how it works .  

Most likely hardly any outright lies.

On 3/5/2020 at 8:26 PM, Sujo said:

No, just those that vote for trump.

Yes, because Facebook is known for looking out for Trump supporters. Said no one. EVER.

2 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Yes, because Facebook is known for looking out for Trump supporters. Said no one. EVER.

Is Facebook known for looking out for anyone other than Mark Zuckerberg?

15 minutes ago, heybruce said:

Is Facebook known for looking out for anyone other than Mark Zuckerberg?

Yes. They're known for leaning left, editorially. Surely you know this.

On 3/6/2020 at 7:49 AM, jesimps said:

Facebook, the lefty propoganda machine.

You are right. To be fair, the census did contain questions to try and help track down the millions of Americans suffering from cancer caused by wind farms...

 

So unpatriotic that FB would want to take such a thing down! 

5 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Yes. They're known for leaning left, editorially. Surely you know this.

Where does FB publish their own editorials?

Anyone who thinks workers should be provided health care, doesn’t deny climate change, doesn’t support voter suppression, doesn’t accept foreign  assistance in domestic affairs, doesn’t pay hush money to strippers, doesn’t promote bizarre conspiracy theories..... are obviously left leaning domestic terrorists.

Edited March 7, 20206 yr by gamb00ler

7 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Yes. They're known for leaning left, editorially. Surely you know this.

No, I do not know this.  Why don't you provide examples?

10 hours ago, heybruce said:

No, I do not know this.  Why don't you provide examples?

I'll let Facebook employees handle that:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/technology/inside-facebook-employees-political-bias.html

 

Or perhaps you know better than them?

 

12 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

Where does FB publish their own editorials?

Anyone who thinks workers should be provided health care, doesn’t deny climate change, doesn’t support voter suppression, doesn’t accept foreign  assistance in domestic affairs, doesn’t pay hush money to strippers, doesn’t promote bizarre conspiracy theories..... are obviously left leaning domestic terrorists.

Sir, please reread and get a better understanding of what I posted. Using the word "editorially" refers to the editing process and does NOT mean Facebook or anyone that word is used on is referring to editorials. I encourage you to come back when your preference is to actually debate rather than derail debate.

1 hour ago, Crazy Alex said:

I'll let Facebook employees handle that:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/technology/inside-facebook-employees-political-bias.html

 

Or perhaps you know better than them?

 

Facebook employ a large number of young, well educated, intelligent people.

 

About a hundred of whom moan that their young, well educated, intelligent colleagues are liberally minded.

 

And you think that’s some kind of shocking revelation.

 

Doh!

 

You’ll be complaining next that they have healthy teeth.

 

 

Edited March 8, 20206 yr by Chomper Higgot

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Facebook employ a large number of young, well educated, intelligent people.

 

About a hundred of whom moan that their young, well educated, intelligent colleagues are liberally minded.

 

And you think that’s some kind of shocking revelation.

 

Doh!

 

You’ll be complaining next that they have healthy teeth.

 

 

About 100 are willing to come forward and say something. So you concede the people stepping forward are well-educated (the well-educated know that "well-educated is hyphenated) and intelligent, yes?

 

I'm not sure why you think I believe this is a shocking revelation. Such a revelation is not shocking at all- assuming one pays attention to Facebook's obvious bias. Your healthy teeth comment is obviously a silly diversion, with no further addressing needed.

 

But alas, those who benefit from the bias will say it doesn't exist. And I suppose I should be proactive and say this isn't a shock, either, before you put yet even more words into my mouth. And of course, it should be noted that resorting to such tactics only indicates how weak a person realizes their argument is.