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FACEBOOK ADS FOR a website targeting European election candidate Maria Walsh have been deemed not to break the website’s community standards.
Yesterday, Fine Gael asked Facebook and Google to remove ads for a website that is designed to look like a campaign site in favour of Walsh’s candidacy but instead portrays her in a negative light.
Fine Gael issued a statement today claiming that the ads returned to Facebook.
“The ad was initially removed yesterday after Fine Gael contacted the social media giant about the issue. However, an exact copy of the same ad has since reappeared and Facebook has taken the decision to allow the ad to remain on their platform,” it said.
The ad does not appear to be online this evening but its earlier reappearance is believed to be linked to a review which deemed that it did not break Facebook’s community standards.
The ad directed people to a website in which the homepage states: “Maria Walsh is running for MEP. But before you vote for her, make sure that you know what she stands for.”
It adds that it “is not affiliated to Maria Walsh’s campaign”.
The website specifically targets Walsh for her work as an LGBT advocate and says that she has used the term homophobia “as a weapon”.
It quotes an Irish Times interview with Walsh in which she says she will “ruffle feathers” of traditional Fine Gael voters.
The website claims this translates as a promise by Walsh to go after “traditional values”.
“Maria has made clear that her aims include to annoy those who, because of conservative beliefs, cannot approve of the homosexual lifestyle,” the website states.
The review by Facebook deemed that while the ads mention Walsh’s LGBT activism, they do not attack her on that basis or on the basis of her sexual orientation.
The review also determined that the website was not designed to misrepresent a connection to Walsh’s campaign.
Walsh herself claimed the ads made a reappearance online because the account behind them has verified.
A statement from Facebook to TheJournal.ie says that “authorised pages” are allowed to run ads.
Information seen by TheJournal.ie on two ads about Maria Walsh on Facebook show that they were ‘active’ since 22 March.
“Protecting the integrity of EU elections is a priority for Facebook. That is why, since April, we have been enforcing new transparency rules for ads relating to politics which require people to get authorisation from Facebook to run a political ad,” a spokesperson for the company said.
All authorised pages running political ads with a valid disclaimer must adhere to Facebook’s community standards and ads policies.
Also today, Google said it has introduced a new policy to verify advertisers and a transparency report for the EU parliamentary election, to improve people’s understanding of the political advertising they see online.
“We continue to improve our processes and if we discover ads that break our policies, we take appropriate action,” a Google spokesperson said.
- With reporting by Rónán Duffy
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From what I have seem of Maria , regardless of her sexuality she doesn’t know much about politics
@Pl O’neill: I’d love to know who would have heard of these adds before FG’s intervention, didn’t appear on my FB. Like you her sexuality has little to do with it , David Norris has done a great service to this country, She is simply out of her Depth.
@The long walk home☘️: what did David Norris ever do bar collect his money?
FG complaint is incorrect.
There is no attack on her based on her sexuality.
In fact the website references her total lack of qualifications for the job and her lie about her business.
Well done Facebook
@ciar0: he mentions LGBT in every other sentence.
“Maria has made clear that her aims include to annoy those who, because of conservative beliefs, cannot approve of the homosexual lifestyle.”
“Maria has visited multiple schools promoting LGBT issues, and encouraging youth to question their beliefs and adopt new “values” with measures such as the raising of the LGBT flag outside the school.”
“Maria has declared herself to be a homosexual woman. She was in a relationship with another woman, TV producer Shauna Keogh, for some time after winning the Rose of Tralee. Last year, she stated that she was no longer with Shauna but was looking for somebody else.”
@Karen Wellington: and are these incorrect?
@ciar0: I suppose the third quote might be true but it’s also completely irrelevant. The rest is a smear campaign. There are plenty of great reasons not to vote for her, or FG (& FF) for that matter, her sexuality is not one of them.
@Karen Wellington: did I miss the bit where they said don’t vote for her because she is gay? A straight person could promote all those agendas and be canvassed agsinst for the same reason.
@SFNutters: the entire website say don’t vote for her and the reasons given include “The goal of most LGBT activists is that people would be coerced into accepting immorality as if it were morality and subsequently give up their own ability to distinguish between right and wrong.”
@Karen Wellington: where is the part that says don’t vote for her because she is gay…LGBT activists could be straight or gay or any of the other options.
@SFNutters: and yet he felt the need to mention that she’s ‘gay’ (inverted commas are Burkes addition, not mine) more than half a dozen times. If you can’t get your head around the circumlocution Burke’s using to obfuscate the vitriol in his rhetoric then good for you; you’re the better for not having understood his bile, but I’m not in a position to explain it to you as I have neither the patience or the necessary sna training.
@Karen Wellington: similar to Maria,Kate is also out of her depth.
Facebook should also name who published the advert so they can be taken to task on a public forum(media, print media)
@Garreth Mc Mahon: the person who paid for the ads is named in the facebook ad library just put in maria walsh and scroll down.
@Garreth Mc Mahon: Enoch Burke. He’s a headcase and he’s not ashamed to let people know it, he put his name on the website.
@Karen Wellington: anything to Enoch Powell??
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: Burke would not supported Powell’s stance on homosexuality (Powell is the moderate in this instance).
@steve white: I’ve yet to hear of a good Enoch or eunuch. Tough name to give a kid.
Can we ban her ads? Do you remember tamagotchi’s, black Jack’s and fruit salads? Me too, now that we’ve established we’re roughly the same age vote for me because I’m groovy and down with the 90′s kids…..The bang of desperation off of her is overpowering.
@Rachel O’ Meara: all of which might be true but it does not entitle someone to single her out and target her because of her sexuality.
@James Wallace: I wasn’t commenting on her sexuality just her crap campaigning abilities. I honestly couldn’t give a fiddlers if she’s gay.
@Rachel O’ Meara: but that’s the entire point of this thread: she was targeted and singled out because of her sexuality.
@James Wallace: It’s about the story yeah but it’s also about her and her campaign, just expressing my two cents on what I thought about it.
Mother off God she was destroying an chance if getting elected all on her own. Her only policy seemed to be attack Peter Casey. Is this an effort to drum up support out if sympathy for her.
@Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: ask Enoch Burke that question. FG didn’t create the website, he did
@James Wallace: FG made an intervention with the hosts giving this oxygen
@James Wallace: Burke is an utter and complete bollix from a family of super religious nutjobs.
@The long walk home☘️: yes they did, but the initial targeting of her by Burke is the problem. People are choosing not to see this because of their hatred for FG
Facebook is right in this case. censorship for nothing poor poor fg
@Robert Phelan: do you think it’s ok for a person to be targeted solely on the grounds of their sexuality?
@James Wallace: oh she’ll get over it james.you know that saying”stick’s and stones will break my bones,but name’s will never hurt me”.
@Robert Phelan: so going after one candidate, chosen as a target because of her sexuality, is ok by you then? Just to clarify.
Next up, Ronert Phelan justifies bullying in the classroom and racism, because, you know sticks and stones etc
Being used to canvas late in the day ,is this spin?
@Cathal: No but I can imagine there are people out there dim enough to think that.
@Cathal: No, its a smear campaign against Maria Walsh.
I don’t even vote FG and I can see that
Facebook advertising does not have the power to influence elections. Maybe a few dozen would be swayed by what they saw on it. So pathetic to get all uppity over it.
@BreadBasketCase: any influence at all is unacceptable and we should always challenge it.
@BreadBasketCase: I work in advertising and Believe me it does. Facebook is a leisure platform, people don’t consume content on it with the same mental barriers up as when they read a news site. There’s a psychological lack of distrust due to the nature of the platform combining your personal lives (friends posts, cute pictures) with news and advertisements.
People don’t even realise they’re being fed pre-selected content. It’s what makes Facebook such a profitable platform to advertise on.
@BreadBasketCase: your missing the point that she is being targeted because of her sexuality, no other reason.
@Aisling: any influence? then all ads should be banned.
@SFNutters: I’m clearly referring to elections, that’s what this article is about.
@Aisling: so am I..if your going to ban ads that influence voters then all ads, leaflets, posters etc would be banned.
@SFNutters: start with the posters….
It is up this evening, I got it in my feed just now, and reported it as a scam anyway. Disingenuous scunners (and for once, I’m not talking about Fine Gael)
This has Leo all over it. She’s a flop and he knows it, time to wheel out the sympathy vote campaign. Wait till you see how many fools fall for it and land us another useless MEP
It’s all a publicity stunt.
She’s banging leo
Toxic
Having met Maria on couple occasions i believe politics wont be her game. FG have sucked her in for cheap publicity. On another note she in stunning when you meet her face to face. Tv presenting could be a career choice.
It’s a terrible state of things when Facebook are deemed the moral decision maker between two standpoints – able to advertise a gay woman and her policies or allow political attack for same
Hfyjjbh
Her appearance on The week in politics a few weeks back showed she has no place in irish politics. It’s amazing that you would seek political office and still be unable to answer the most basic of political questions!! Celebrity candidate if ever there was one. Seems nice enough though
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