Dem operative turned Facebook comms director apologizes for ‘hate speech’ label on congresswoman's video with transgender flag

Rep. Marie Newman (D-Illinois) was outraged after Facebook briefly flagged a video of her putting a transgender flag outside the office of Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Georgia) as “hate speech.”

“Facebook took down our video of me putting up the Transgender flag outside my office and labeled it as ‘hate speech,’” Newman tweeted on Thursday.

She blasted the social media platform for censoring her content – typically a complaint from conservatives – but allowing Taylor-Greene’s own “transphobic” footage of her putting a sign reading “there are only two genders” outside her office. 

“Supporting transgender Americans is NOT hate speech,” Newman wrote. 

The planting of the flags is part of an ongoing feud between the two lawmakers over the Equality Act, which would make “sex, sexual orientation, [and] gender identity” protected classes by the government.

Other Democrats were quick to jump to Newman’s defense and to blast Facebook and its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, for the perceived censorship.

“What the hell is this, @Facebook? We see through your bulls**t, you're just a hate speech platform now,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) tweeted. 

“Mark Zuckerberg is a vile human being,” Media Matters editor Parker Molloy added. 

Despite the fast outrage, Facebook was quick to correct their flagging of the post and even offered Newman “sincere apologies.”

“Congresswoman, this plainly should not have happened. We've restored this content and you have our sincere apologies,” Andy Stone, Facebook’s policy communications director, tweeted.

Stone’s Twitter bio boasts about his former work within the Democratic Party under Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California), Rep. Jerry McNerny (D-California), and with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

According to Newman, her video was only flagged for three hours and that the case is “under review.”

For many, taking care of Newman’s complaint so quickly was not enough, as users called for Facebook to remove Taylor-Greene’s video, as well.

“Thank you @andymstone. That was quite alarming. Looking forward to hearing about the removal of every lying, hate mongering post & video of domestic terrorist & general repugnant, disgusting woman virus #MarjorieTaylorGreene,” actress Nancy Lee Grahn tweeted. 

“Glad to see this apology to Congresswoman Newman from @facebook and wondering,” Christine Pelosi added, “1. Why was her pro-civil rights post taken down to begin with? 2. Why is transphobic content still up?”

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