TAMPA (CNN) – Facebook says it will now remove ads run by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign to “prevent confusion around the official U.S. census.”
Facebook had come under fire for allowing the Trump campaign to run ads this week on its platform asking people to “respond now” to an “Official Congressional District Census.”
In addition to age, name and contact information, the survey includes questions about views on President Trump, Nancy Pelosi and “the Radical Left” agenda.
Facebook has been criticized by Democrats for its policy of not fact-checking ads run by politicians, a policy that Democrats say benefits Trump.
Earlier on Thursday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had slammed Facebook for allowing the Trump campaign to run the ads, arguing they violated Facebook’s misleading content policy regarding the census.
“I’m particularly annoyed today the actions of Facebook,” Pelosi said at a press conference Thursday morning about the need to encourage all communities to participate in the upcoming census. She called the advertisement “an absolute lie. A lie that is consistent with the misrepresentation policy of Facebook.”
“I know that profit motive is their business model, but it should not come at the cost of the counting who is in our country, so that we can provide the services and the rest,” she added. “The beautiful diversity of America is what this administration fears. They want it undercounted.”
The tTrump campaign declined to comment on Facebook’s move.
