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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke September 23, 2020

No, Facebook hasn’t banned Trump from advertising

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  • Facebook has removed some Trump campaign ads for violating the company’s policies, but it has not banned the president from advertising. 
     
  • As of Sept. 22, about 880 Trump campaign ads were active on the social media platform. 
 

Facebook has prohibited new political ads from appearing on its website in the week before the Nov. 3 presidential election in an effort to combat misinformation. But the social media platform hasn’t banned President Donald Trump from advertising, as a recent post claims.

"Fb is banning Trump from advertising for president so let’s do it for him!!!!" the post says. "TRUMP 2020!!" 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

Facebook has pulled some Trump campaign ads. In June, the company removed several for violating its rules against hate-group imagery, TechCrunch reported. The ads, which attacked the anti-fascist movement known as antifa, featured a symbol worn by political prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. 

In August, the Gazette newspaper in Iowa reported that Facebook had removed a different Trump campaign ad after the paper filed a copyright violation notice because it used a manipulated version of a photo taken by a Gazette photographer.

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Facebook also removed an August post from Trump’s Facebook page, saying it contained false information about COVID-19. 

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But other Trump ads are alive and well on Facebook. According to the company’s ad library, as of Sept. 22, there were about 880 active Trump campaign ads on the site. 

"There is no truth to this," a Facebook spokesperson told PolitiFact in a statement. "The president’s re-election campaign is running ads on our platform right now." 

We rate this Facebook post False.

 

Our Sources

Facebook post, Sept. 1, 2020

Politico, Facebook bans new political ads in the week before Election Day, Sept. 3, 2020

TechCrunch, Facebook removes TRump campaign ads featuring Nazi symbol, June 18, 2020

Montreal Holocaust Museum, Identification badge of a political prisoner, visited Sept. 22, 2020

The Gazette, Trump campaign uses unauthorized and altered Gazette photo to criticize Biden, Aug. 5, 2020

CNN, Facebook removes Trump post falsely claiming children are ‘almost immune’ to COVID-19, Aug. 5, 2020

Donald Trump Facebook ads, visited Sept. 22, 2020

Statement from Facebook, Sept. 22, 2020

 

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No, Facebook hasn’t banned Trump from advertising

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