Facebook removed a black man's ad that criticized Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's record on crime and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement just days before the election.
The censorship comes in the midst of an uproar over social media platforms' alleged bias against conservative writers and causes in the closing days of the 2020 campaign.
The advertisement, which Brandon Wallace wrote for the conservative American Principles Project, spotlights Biden's record of supporting policies that "keep black men from raising their children," pointing to his support for enhanced criminal sentencing during his four-decade career and praise for Black Lives Matter, which has openly called for the end of the nuclear family.
"Twenty-six years ago, Vice President Biden admitted that crime in the black community was caused by society," the ad's female narrator says. "Democrats said there was no hope for blacks like my grandfather. They left him in jail, even though he changed… Soon, I was born—no father and no grandfather."
The narrator claims that Biden "supports the BLM organization that also wants to keep black men from raising their children."
Wallace noted that now-deleted language in the Black Lives Matter platform supporting the disruption of the "Western-prescribed nuclear family structure." The group called for "extended families" and "villages" instead before deleting the language because of criticism.
"If you examine the since-deleted passage, there are several messages hidden within that, when examined from the perspective of a father in a nuclear family as I am, paint a clear picture of BLM's true belief," Wallace said. "What it means to me is that fathers, as a head of the family, have no place in their organization."
Facebook cited a fact check from a website called Lead Stories, which said that Wallace's claims have "no proof" and that Biden has not "formally endorsed" Black Lives Matter. Biden has spoken favorably in campaign advertisements about the activist movement but has resisted endorsing many of the group's proposals.
Lead Stories further argued that the abolition of the nuclear family does not specifically "refer to Black men raising children" and that the movement's website contains "no reference to wanting to keep Black men from raising their children."
Politifact also fact checked the claim that BLM supports the abolition of the nuclear family.
"We found that while Black Lives Matter seeks change in how 'family' is defined, especially with respect to public policy, it’s a leap to conclude that it wants to eliminate traditional family structures," it stated.
American Principles Project executive director Terry Schilling said the advertisement's removal is further evidence of social media companies trying to swing the election in favor of Biden.
Facebook also removed a September American Principles Project ad that criticized Biden and Michigan senator Gary Peters (D.) for their support of the Equality Act. Politifact had deemed the advertisement "potentially misleading" but did not point to specific factual errors.
Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.