Facebook bans controversial anti-Trump protest posters

A series of controversial anti-Republican protest posters have been banned by Facebook and Instagram, after the social media sites deemed them too offensive for their “community standards”.

The “New Proverbs” designs, created by New York publishing house Badlands Unlimited, use the same visual template as the Westboro Baptist church. However, unlike the notorious hate speech group, these images do not target Muslims, Jews, Catholics or the LGBTQ community. Instead, the colourful parody posters are emblazoned with bold, brash anti-Trump slogans; including “God Hates Trump”, “Fags Hate Trump”, “God Hates Ivanka”.

Both Facebook and Instagram removed the designs – which were made for last weekend’s women’s marches – less than 24 hours after they were uploaded.

“Facebook and Instagram responded to complaints by Vichy Americans that our signs did not follow ‘community standards’, which is what is typically evoked to justify the banning of dissent and other forms of 'other-mindedness',” a Badlands spokesperson told Dazed. “They took down the signs because they collaborated with Vichy Americans.” 

The signs were made available to print and spread across the Internet, in protest against Trump’s worryingly right-wing presidency. Since their deletion on Saturday (January 21), Badlands have been urging people to download and share the signs – making more (“Trump Dooms Nation”, “Trump Racist Spam”) in the process.

“We don’t live in 1933,” they added, defiantly. “(There should be) no special laws for racists and fascists, no taxes funding racists, no progress without others, no islamophobic anything. No vague ‘community standards.’”

Learn more about the signs on the official Badlands website here.