Republican Congressional Candidate Furious After Facebook Blocks Ad
Elizabeth Heng, a Republican candidate in California’s 12th Congressional District, has accused Facebook of censoring an ad from her campaign that depicts the Cambodian genocide, which her parents survived.
The ad begins with startling images of the Cambodian genocide from the 1970s. Heng then talks about how her parents survived the horrific event and repeats her slogan, “Great things can come from great adversity.”
Heng’s campaign said that last week Facebook “revoked approval to advertise,” according to Fox News. The campaign posted Facebook’s message on Twitter.
.@facebook rejected my video because it was “too shocking” for their platform, referring to the scenes of horrific events my parents survived in Cambodia. Facebook, do you think it’s right to censor history? #censorship
Full ad here: https://t.co/SY0w1o327m pic.twitter.com/etvlZYK22N— Elizabeth Heng (@ElizabethHeng) August 4, 2018
According to the message from Facebook, the company said that they do not “allow ads that contain shocking, disrespectful, or sensational content, including ads that depict violence or threats of violence.”
Heng believes this is a result of Facebook targeting conservatives. She told Fox News on Wednesday morning, “We constantly see how liberal tech giants, time and time again, they target conservative voices.”
She continued, “Facebook cannot deny their algorithms favor liberal messages and often reward individuals such as Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and individuals such as my opponent Jim Costa.”
In a recent Twitter post, she blasted Facebook for blocking the ad. Heng said, “It’s unbelievable that @facebook could have such a blatant disregard for the history that many people, including my own parents, have lived through. I’m sure it is ‘shocking’ for people to hear about this kind of injustice, but this is reality.”
The blocked ad, moreover, is beginning to gain national notoriety. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy weighed in on Facebook’s decision to remove the ad.
He posted on Twitter, “@ElizabethHeng is a Republican woman. Her family survived the Communist genocide in Cambodia and came to America. Now Facebook is blocking her story. #StopTheBias.”
.@ElizabethHeng is a Republican woman. Her family survived the Communist genocide in Cambodia and came to America. Now Facebook is blocking her story. #StopTheBias https://t.co/gydYw3kwzD
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) August 6, 2018
Heng is in a tough battle with her incumbent opponent Democrat Rep. Jim Costa. Back in June, she ended up with 47 percent of the vote compared to Costa’s 53 percent in the state’s open primary.
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