Facebook Green New Deal ad tests Ocasio-Cortez’s concerns about the platform

A left-leaning political action committee (PAC) posted an advertisement on Thursday claiming that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) voted for the Green New Deal, according to CNN. 

The advertisement was posted after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a testimony in front of the House Financial Service Committee earlier this week if the social media platform fact checked their ads, and if politicians would be able to conduct campaigns with false advertisements. 

During a tense round of questioning Ocasio-Cortez asked, “Would I be able to run advertisements on Facebook targeting Republicans in primaries saying they voted for the Green New Deal?” 

Zuckerberg responded, “Congresswoman, I don’t know the answer to that off the top of my head. I think probably.” 

According to CNN, the ad successfully ran until Saturday when it was flagged by a fact-checking group that was hired by Facebook. The ad has been removed from the platform, but allowed the video to stay in users’ feeds. Users will reportedly receive a warning before sharing that the video has been flagged by fact-checkers. 

However, Facebook told CNN in a statement that if Ocasio-Cortez herself was to run the ad, it would not be taken down because “fact-checking does not extend to politicians.” 

The social media giant does not censor political ads if they are factually incorrect. This, Zuckerberg says, would mean that his company would judging what is 100 percent true.