Facebook is being accused of silencing black voices after it removed an ad alleging that Joe Biden does not support black families. Facebook claimed that third-party fact-checkers could not verify the validity of the claims made on the ad so they censored it.
The ad, created by American Principles Project PAC, a conservative political action organization, shows the then Sen. Joe Biden arguing for the 1994 crime bill, which is blamed for the mass incarcerations of black people in the 1990s.
The ad also claims that presidential candidate Joe Biden supports the Black Lives Matters movement, which has been accused of wanting “to keep black men from raising their children.”
On the Black Lives Matter Global Network’s website, there was a statement that read:
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
According to Brandon Wallace, the person behind the ad, the statement contained wording that undermined the role of fathers, noting that the statement mentioned “mothers, parents, and children” but did not mention fathers.
“What it means to me is that fathers, as the head of the family, have no place in their organization,” Wallace said in a statement. “Their plan to make up for the absence of fathers is to support each other as extended families in a ‘village.’”
Facebook removed the ad on Saturday after a fact-check by Lead Stories.
“Does Black Lives Matter want to keep Black men from raising their children and has Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden endorsed the organization? No, there is no evidence to support either claim,” the Lead Stories’ fact-check said.
The executive director of APP, Terry Schilling, accused Facebook of censorship adding that he was not surprised by the platform’s decision to remove the ad.
“The company’s actions over the last few weeks have made it clear that it will do whatever it takes to ensure Joe Biden is elected president, whether that means removing anti-Biden ads on absurd grounds or burying news stories which make Biden look bad,” Schilling wrote in a statement sent to Reclaim The Net.
