The paid anti-trans advert claimed that the Equality Act will “destroy girls’ sports”. (American Principles Project/ Facebook)
Facebook has removed a paid political advert by an anti-trans think tank claiming that trans athletes will “destroy girls’ sports”.
The advert is part of a “dangerous” $4 million campaign by the conservative American Principles Project (APP) aiming to steer voters away from Joe Biden and towards Donald Trump.
Taking aim at Biden’s support of the Equality Act, the video misgenders a trans girl and claims the act would “destroy girls’ sports” by allowing trans athletes to compete.
However, the Equality Act has no bearing on transitioning or school sports, and strictly only offers civil protection against discrimination on the basis of someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity in private and public sectors such as the workplace or hospitals.
The campaign also includes two other videos, which both take aim at trans kids, describing transition for minors as “child abuse” and claiming Biden supports “sterilisation”.
According to NBC, Facebook has confirmed that the paid advertisement about trans athletes will no longer be able to run on the platform, and if the video is posted organically it must carry a fact-check label.
Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David said: “While this is a great first step, we will continue to dialogue with Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms to ensure that APP and their misleading advertisements are labeled for the misinformation they are or removed entirely.”
Trans advocate Gillian Branstetter, a spokesperson for the National Women’s Law Center, described the ad as part of a “misinformation campaign targeting trans youth”.
She said: “Certainly it is good that they have taken the extra step of calling out this particular ad with its spurious claims and misleading nature.
“One hopes that Facebook takes a larger responsibility for a wider swath of anti-trans misinformation that exists on their platform, including and especially lies about transition related health care.”
In response to the removal of the paid ad, APP’s Terry Schilling said in a statement that Facebook had “caved to a pressure campaign by far-left activists”, and added that they were exploring how to appeal the decision.