Thread by @JuddLegum

1. I wish I didn't have to do this but this is going to be a new thread about how Facebook is STILL permitting Republican Super PACs to REPEATEDLY VIOLATE FACEBOOK'S RULES and run ads with false attacks on Raphael Warnock.

Follow along if interested.

2. The story began on December 17, after Facebook begins allowing political ads in Georgia.

American Crossroads, a Super PAC run by Karl Rove and financed by Mitch McConnell, starts running a brutally dishonest ad against Raphael Warnock

3. The American Crossroads ad tells Georgia voters on Facebook that Warnock said "God Damn America."

As if he was expressing his own views.

But he wasn't. He was quoting Jerimiah Wright in a speech he delivered on 7/11/13.

We tracked down the full quote

4. Here's Warnock's full quote: "Extracted from its theological and rhetorical context and looped to the point of ad nauseam was the most provocative phrase 'God Damn America'"

The ad claims this means Warnock "He repeated the same anti-American hate himself"

FALSE.

5. Based on my Twitter thread on 12/17, one of Facebook's fact-checking partners evaluated the American Crossroads ad and came to the same conclusion: It misleads voters because it lacks context

leadstories.com/hoax-alert/202…

6. Several hours later, Facebook finally removed the ads for violating its policies. That is what they are supposed to do. Under Facebook's rules, politicians and parties can post false political ads but Super PACs cannot.

7. But on December 20, American Crossroads just reposted the EXACT SAME AD dishonestly attacking Warnock.

AND FACEBOOK APPROVED IT.

American Crossroads quickly spent more than 8K on this ad that was previously removed, and reached as many as 250K Georgia voters.

8. I exposed what happened on Twitter and, after a delay of several hours, Facebook took down the duplicated ad.

https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1341089874150088704

9. Then, on December 22, American Crossroads posted another ad WITH THE SAME FALSE ATTACK ON WARNOCK.

IT WAS APPROVED BY FACEBOOK AGAIN

This was a claim that was already removed TWICE by Facebook

10. This December ad remained up for several days.

Meanwhile, on December 24, Facebook's head of global public policy, Joel Kaplan, contributed the legal maximum ($2800) to Perdue and Loeffler.

https://twitter.com/juddlegum/status/1342981858066370560

11. On Christmas, Facebook finally took down the third set of ads from American Crossroads that made these false claims.

I thought this situation was over.

IT WAS NOT.

https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1342614146509103106

12. Last night, on 12/29, Facebook approved another set of ads from American Crossroads making the same false claims against Warnock.

THIS IS THE 4TH TIME THEY'VE POSTED FACEBOOK ADS W/THESE FALSE CLAIMS.

According to Facebook these ads could have already reached 1M+ Georgians

13. Facebook has 50,000 employees and had 21.4 billion in revenue in the 3Q 2020.

My newsletter has 2 employees and 0 billion in revenue in the 3Q 2020.

But I seem to care more about this than Facebook?

If you care too, check out my newsletter.

popular.info/subscribe

14. I will reach out to Facebook (again) and let you know if I hear back.

In the meantime, if you work at Facebook and have any thoughts or information about this, reach out to me at [e-mail]

15. Keep in mind, Facebook is ONLY allowing ads targeting Georgia and there are only a few dozen entities running ads.

This is a Super PAC that has had ads removed three other times in the last two weeks.

Facebook COULD stop this. But for some reason they won't

16. UPDATE (12/31): Facebook has taken these ads down (again)

17. I wish I could say I found this encouraging. But there doesn't seem to be anything preventing American Crossroads from just posting the same ad again. I've asked Facebook about this -- what they do to prevent someone from reposting an ad -- and haven't gotten a response.