Facebook is facing pressure to return money it accepted to run ads promoting its page for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's presidential campaign.
The social media network
has pulled the ads, which directed users to the campaign page, but it
has refused to say whether it will return the money it took in exchange
for them.
"By accepting money for
'promoted posts,' Facebook has provided a platform for the propaganda of
a regime that has been at the heart of one of the world's most brutal
conflicts," Anna Nolan of The Syria Campaign said Monday. The group has
created an online petition, multiple YouTube videos and launched website
called AdsForDictators.org calling on Facebook to return the money and take down the Assad campaign page.
Launched in May, the
Facebook page is called "Sawa al-Assad" (Sawa means "together") and has
more than 230,000 likes. It is regularly updated with photos from the
Assad campaign, including pictures of Bashar al-Assad and his wife,
Asma, going to a polling station to vote Tuesday.
Polls for the Syrian
presidential election opened against the backdrop of a bloody and
protracted civil war, and al-Assad is almost guaranteed to emerge
victorious in a vote that opposition groups and many Western countries
say has been be rigged from the start.
"We have looked onto this
thoroughly, including reviewing IP address and payment information, and
we have no evidence that these ads were ordered from Syria," a Facebook
representative said. An IP address indicates an Internet user's
location, though users can easily mask real IP addresses to make it
appear they're in another country.
"We comply with all
relevant Syrian sanctions and we do not permit ads originating from or
targeting Syria," the Facebook representative added.
Even though it removed the ads promoting the page, Facebook says it is not considering taking down the Assad campaign page.
"You'll find a range of voices debating events in Syria on Facebook," according to the Facebook representative.
Users don't have to pay
to open an account on social media, so the social network typically
allows political leaders and heads of state to maintain a presence on
its platforms, regardless of their standing. Social media networks often
prefer not to decide which leaders deserve and don't deserve the
ability to have a presence on their sites.
AL assad
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