While Facebook announced last year that it would end the advertising of white supremacist messages on the social media platform, new research from Media Matters shows that Donald Trump’s facebook page took out 2,200 ads in just January and February of this year referring to an immigration invasion. Calling immigrants as “invaders” is a common white supremacist talking point.
According to Media Matters:
“Trump’s Facebook page ran two types of ads. The first claimed that there was a “true invasion happening” at the southern border which Democrats and the media were ignoring, and it asked users to take a linked survey on border security. The first question on the survey asked participants which issues concerned them most about the border: drug trafficking, criminals, MS-13 gang members, sex trafficking, illegal aliens, terrorists, or all of the above. This ad was likely part of a group email list-building campaign since the participants’ contact information was requested at the end of the survey. According to Facebook’s ad library, about 1,000 of these ads ran between January and February…The other type of ad Trump’s campaign ran began by saying, “We have an INVASION!” Trump’s campaign ran this ad over 1,100 times to solicit donations for Trump’s campaign to build a wall on the southern U.S. border.”
The concept of an immigrant invasion was repeatedly referenced in the manifesto published by the El Paso terrorist.
