Candidate Says Ad Was Blocked Because of Facebook’s ‘Liberal Agenda’
July 25th, 2018 by Jake Stofan
A contender for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture is blasting Facebook after the social media site flagged one of his campaign ads.
Representative Matt Caldwell is staunch supporter of the NRA and the second amendment.
“And that’s all there is to it,” Caldwell in a recent ad he released for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture.
This advertisement was supposed to inform voters of Caldwell’s position, but soon after paying to promote the video on Facebook it was flagged and removed.
Facebook’s justification was that it promoted the sale of weapons or ammunition, but doesn’t do either of those things.
“We were being prevented from talking about a fairly straightforward American value,” said Caldwell.
In an e-mail sent to media outlets Caldwell said, “Facebook’s liberal agenda is keeping our campaign for Commissioner of Agriculture from sharing our message. Facebook has mislabeled our ad in an effort to censor our pro-Second Amendment support and endorsement from the NRA.”
Social Media Expert Ryan Cohn says he doubts the removal was politically motivated.
Flagging potentially controversial ads is standard practice at Facebook now-a-days.
“They’re trying to play it safe with anything that could potentially draw them into more criticism and controversy,” said Cohn.
Caldwell’s ad was approved by the end of the day.
He attributes the quick action on the issue to his campaign contacting the media.
“Everyday citizens they don’t have that opportunity and that distresses me whether we’re talking about this situation or any situation,” said Caldwell.
Cohn says Caldwell’s experience was fairly typical.
He says Facebook generally processes ad appeals within a few hours, regardless of the person who posted it.
Caldwell declined to say how much money was spent on the Facebook ad, saying only that the campaign would have expected a refund if the ad wasn’t allowed to run.
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