Facebook ‘censors’ pro-Trump ad after ‘left-wing pressure’ despite fact-checkers finding claim ‘might be TRUE’
FACEBOOK “censored” a pro-Trump ad after “left-wing pressure” – despite fact-checkers finding the claim ‘might be TRUE’.
PolitiFact said a comment from Joe Biden was taken out of context, and gave it a “mostly false” label – but the claim made by the ad may actually be true, the fact-checkers said.
A pro-Trump ad Too Risky from super PAC America First was launched on August 4, The Daily Wire reported.
Upon rollout, the right-wing ad was slapped with a “mostly false” rating by fact-checkers PolitiFact.
Amid crackdowns on misinformation, the ad was blocked by Facebook, The Daily Wire reported.
In the ad, Biden said: “If you elect me… your taxes are going to be raised, not cut.”
The comment came from a campaign stop in South Carolina.
Biden was responding to a person who said they benefited from a Republican-led tax bill put into law under the Trump administration, PolitiFact reported.
Fact-checkers said Biden was addressing one individual – not the entire crowd, making a general statement.
In the fact-check, PolitiFact said the video showed the quote from Biden “out-of context.”
Fact-checkers said: “And while some tax experts estimate that Biden’s plan would mean higher taxes on average for all income groups, those increases would be relatively small for all but the biggest earners.”
The ad also showed text stating “Taxes will increase ‘on all income groups.'”
The America First ad also said: “The New York Times says Biden’s tax increases are more than double Hillary Clinton’s plan.
“Even the Tax Policy Center admits taxes would increase ‘on all income groups,’” the narrator in the ad said.
Senior research associate at the Tax Policy Center Gordon Mermin told PolitiFact the information quoted from The New York Times was correct.
PolitiFact said that “highest earners” would see the largest increases in taxes under Biden’s plan, according to Tax Policy Center and other proposal analyses.
Mermin said this would mean “small, modest increases” in taxes for low-income groups.
He added that nearly all raised rates would be “due to the indirect effects of the increase in the corporate tax rate,” PolitiFact reported.
America First told The Daily Wire they are now fighting the fact-checkers.
The super PAC said their legal team is “challenging” PolitiFact and Factcheck.org’s “bogus, politically driven ‘fact checks.'”
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“We are going to ask them to revise their ratings based on the actual facts,” Kelly Sadler, communications director for America First told The Daily Wire.
Facebook has recently been in hot water, with pressure to crack down on misinformation amid the coronavirus pandemic and upcoming election.
In a blog post earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that the site will not be accepting any new ads the week before the November 3 election, to ensure people are getting “authoritative information.”