Facebook’s Excuse to Censor Trump, a Red Triangle, Has Long History as Antifa Symbol

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Allum Bokhari

Facebook’s decision to censor one of the Trump campaign’s ads, which calls on Americans to join the President in opposition to the far-left domestic terrorist Antifa movement, rests on the flimsy argument that an Antifa symbol used by the campaign in its Facebook post is actually a Nazi symbol.

The symbol in question is an inverted red triangle with a black border. Left-wing advocacy groups including Media Matters claim the symbol was used to designate political prisoners in Nazi concentration camps.

That was one of the ways in which inverted red triangles were used historically. But the symbol predates the Nazis, and was used by the far-left militants as early as 1890. Today, the symbol has been co-opted by the modern-day militant movement Antifa, which uses it widely.

Tim Murtagh, Director of Communications for the Trump campaign, strongly condemned Facebook’s censorship in a statement.

“The inverted red triangle is a symbol used by Antifa, so it was included in an ad about Antifa,” said Murtagh. We would note that Facebook still has an inverted red triangle emoji in use, which looks exactly the same, so it’s curious that they would target only this ad. The image is also not included in the Anti-Defamation League’s database of symbols of hate. But it is ironic that it took a Trump ad to force the media to implicitly concede that Antifa is a hate group.”

The inverted red triangle is widely used in Antifa-themed merchandise, on stickers, magnets, posters, and even Antifa-themed mobile phone cases.

Twitter user Åsk Wäppling, founder of adland.tv, shared pictures from Antifa groups demonstrating the historical evolution of the symbol, and its current use by Antifa.

“In fact, the red triangle is so ingrained as an anti-fascist symbol now, that you’ll find antifascist research center at the website rodedriehoek.be (the red triangle, Belgium),” said Wäppling.

“‘The red triangle’ symbolizes the communist Soviet regime,” she continued. “The USSR rested on three pillars: the leader, Stalin; the party, the CPSU; the violent monopoly, the NKVD.”

“The red triangle both used by Nazis and anti-fascists, but it pre-dates the Nazis: On May 1 of 1890, left-wing militants wore a red triangle. The Gazette de Liège of April 25, 1890 announced the symbol.”

This confirms precisely what the Trump campaign has pointed out. The red triangle is “a symbol widely used by Antifa. It was used in an ad about Antifa,” said the official Team Trump Twitter account in a response to Media Matters. Red-and-black are the historical colors of the anarcho-communist movement to which Antifa belongs, and red triangles are an Antifa symbol according to products available for purchase.

Nevertheless, Facebook chose to side with the left’s smear campaign, banning the Trump campaign’s anti-Antifa ad.

“We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate,” a company spokesman told New York Daily News. “Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol.”

Facebook’s contention that there was no “context that condemns or discusses the symbol” is false — the Trump campaign clearly linked the symbol to Antifa in its now-censored post, which was as follows:

Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem. They are DESTROYING our cities and rioting – it’s absolute madness.

It’s important that EVERY American comes together at a time like this to send a united message that we will not stand for their radical actions any longer. We’re calling on YOU to make a public statement and add your name to stand with President Trump against ANTIFA.

Please add your name IMMEDIATELY to stand with your President and his decision to declare ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization.

Breitbart News will continue to follow Facebook’s censorship of the Trump campaign.

Are you an insider at Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com. 

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News.

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