Facebook Joins NBC, FOX In Pulling Trump Campaign Ad
PALO ALTO (CNN) -- Bay Area-based Facebook has stopped the Trump campaign from running its racist anti-immigration commercial as an ad on the site.
"This ad violates Facebook's advertising policy against sensational content so we are rejecting it. While the video is allowed to be posted on Facebook, it cannot receive paid distribution," Facebook said in a statement Monday afternoon.
ALSO READ:
•Trump Defends Ad Featuring Sacramento Cop Killer Denounced As Racist
•Trump Features Sacramento Cop Killer In Racially-Charged Campaign Ad
The move came shortly after NBC and Fox News said they would stop airing the ad across their networks. CNN had previously determined that the ad is racist and declined to sell airtime for it.
People familiar with the matter told CNN that the advertisement was not submitted to either CBS or ABC.
The Trump campaign began running the ad on Facebook on Sunday, targeting voters in Florida and Arizona. By Monday morning, it had reached millions of users on the platform.
A Facebook spokesperson said the ad had been allowed to run in error.
According to data from Facebook's ad archive, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. spent at least $20,000 and possibly as much as $80,000 on the ad buy.
The ad tries to motivate GOP turnout by playing on fears of the migrants traveling through Mexico.
"We have Community Standards that outline what is and isn't allowed on Facebook. However, when it comes to ads on Facebook, we have a higher set of standards for what can run in an ad. Our Advertising Policies are more restrictive because they take paid distribution. Under our Community Standards, this video is allowed to be posted on Facebook," the spokesperson said.
© 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
