Country band says Facebook prevented promotion of song, 'I Stand for the Flag,' because of 'political content'
According to one Nashville-based country music group, Facebook has prevented it from using the social media’s paid tools to promote the group’s song, “I Stand for the Flag,” because of “political content.”
The Wes Cook Band released its music video for the song on Tuesday morning and planned to promote the song using Facebook’s paid promotions tools. Even though the advertisement was originally approved, it was later rejected.
The band’s frontman, Wes Cook, says that the reason for the rejection was “political content,” but argues that the group’s song is about patriotism and not dividing the nation. Lyrics to the song include “you ain’t gotta pick a side; you can love your fellow man and still have pride.”
Facebook has been under fire for how it handles ads, especially those with a political agenda, since the last U.S. presidential election. It was found that roughly $100,000 and 3,000 advertisement campaigns on Facebook were traced to Kremlin-linked Russian companies.
Recently, to fight “fake news,” social media platforms have launched tools to track political campaign ads, as well as who has paid for them.
However, it may be that the company is hiding regular posts as well, thanks to the keywords they track.
Despite Facebook’s algorithm deeming the video political, the band stands by the fact that the song is patriotic and not political.
“Our song bleeds unity and love of country. It doesn’t see race, color, religion, or political affiliation,” Wes Cook said in a statement to Fox News. “’I Stand for the Flag’ means I am thankful for the freedoms and opportunities this country gives all citizens, and shows how dependent we all are on each other for the success of our individual American Dream. I believe patriotism is not political.”
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