2. I obtained internal Facebook communications about the ads
On 12/24, Facebook exec Rod Leathern asked if Facebook should take action against American Crossroads "for attempting to circumvent our ads policies by repeatedly posting the same content?"
3. This is a very strange message because Leathern (who left Facebook on 12/30) "led the product team for Business Integrity at Facebook" and was responsible for "enforc[ing] ads and business policies across Facebook."
5. Why did Facebook decline to take action against American Crossroads? Again, they won't comment. But we do know that one of their top execs, Joel Kaplan, is a former GOP operative who has repeatedly intervened to protect right-wing groups & publications
7. Facebook is an $800 billion company but its AI for ads is effectively worthless. And it will not backstop it with human moderation before the ads are published.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of Georgians being exposed to false attacks on Warnock
8. In a statement to Popular Information, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) blasted Facebook's handling of the American Crossroads ads. "Facebook is throwing out its own rule book to avoid shutting down Republican lies," Wyden said.
I'd like to personally thank President Trump for sending hoards of his mask-less, delusional supporters to my neighborhood in the middle of the pandemic.
It’s seems like a fun group of people
I've watched these MAGA rallies progress since election day. We started out with about 25% of the people wearing masks. We are now at 0%.
3. The big question is WHY Facebook can't detect and block these ads (which they acknowledge violate its policies) and WHY Facebook won't penalize American Crossroads despite its purposeful efforts to evade Facebook rules
1. Today, Facebook allowed GOP Super PAC American Crossroads to run an ad with a false attack on Raphael Warnock.
Facebook has taken down the same American Crossroads ad FOUR OTHER TIMES since December 17 -- 12/18, 12/20, 12/24, 12/31.
Now, it's back for a fifth time.
2. 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.
3. 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 "spewed anti-American hate"