Facebook restores Warren ads removed for criticizing the platform

Facebook on Monday restored three ads from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) campaign it had briefly taken down that highlighted her push for the breakup of massive tech giants, including the social media platform.

“We removed the ads because they violated our policies against use of our corporate logo. In the interest of allowing robust debate, we are restoring the ads,” the company said in a statement to The Hill.

Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Facebook, noted that several other ads Warren’s campaign placed that specifically referenced her proposal to break up Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among other tech mergers, were unaffected.

Facebook’s policies ban advertisers from using the word “Facebook,” or the company’s logo, in any ads on the platform. The policy was instituted as an attempt to weed out advertisements that falsely promoted products using Facebook’s name.

{mosads}Politico first reported on Monday that some of Warren’s ads had been removed from the platform.

A spokeswoman for Warren’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Warren, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, announced last week a proposal that called for the dissolution of Silicon Valley’s largest companies, saying that the tech giants have gained “too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy.”

Warren became the first major 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to call for breaking up companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, though the idea has gained traction among progressives in recent years amid growing concerns about data privacy and the potential to use social media to spread disinformation.

“We need to stop this generation of big tech companies from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential competitor,” she said in her proposal.

-Emily Birnbaum contributed to this report that was updated at 8:22 p.m.