Trump's campaign has spent up to $40,000 on Facebook ads promoting baseless rumors that Biden wears an earpiece
Jim Watson, Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
- The Trump campaign has started running ads which tap into unfounded online rumors that Joe Biden wore an earpiece during Tuesday's presidential debate.
- The ads claim Biden "refused" to take a drug test and "declined an earpiece inspection." The Biden campaign rejected both these claims.
- Facebook has a policy of not fact-checking political speech or ads, although there are some exceptions.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The Trump campaign has been running Facebook ads promoting a baseless online rumor that Joe Biden used an earpiece during the presidential campaign.
The ads feature a photo of Joe Biden taken in 2019, photoshopped so he has a slightly oversized earbud in his ear and bearing the slogan "Why won't sleepy Joe commit to an earpiece inspection?"
The caption reads: "Joe's BEGGING for breaks during the debate! CHECK JOE'S EARS! He REFUSED drug test & DECLINED an earpiece inspection! Donate to TRUMP."
The Biden campaign rejected these claims in a statement to the BBC.
Facebook Ad Library
According to Facebook's political Ad Library, 43 versions of the ad — many of which are still active — were placed by the Team Trump Facebook page.
It also shows the Trump campaign spent between $35,000 to $40,000 running the ad, which reached around 1 million users.
According to BBC misinformation reporter Marianna Spring, baseless accusations that Biden was wearing an earpiece during Tuesday's presidential debate started circulating on social media ahead of the actual debate in the form of memes.
Spring notes that it is common for unfounded rumors to circulate about political candidates using earpieces during debates. Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush have both been the subject of similar rumors.
Trump has also accused Biden without evidence in the past of taking performance-enhancing drugs, an accusation he also leveled at Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential race.
Trump tweeted Sunday he would be "strongly demanding" a drug test ahead of the debate, and Biden laughed off a question from a reporter as to whether he would take a test. Per the Washington Post, presidents and presidential candidates are not subject to drug testing ahead of debates.
When contacted by Business Insider, a Facebook spokesman declined to comment on the ads. Facebook has a policy of not fact-checking ads from political figures, a policy which has publicly been in place since September last year.
It does however have some policies which allow it to take down political ads containing certain kinds of misinformation, and on Wednesday Facebook removed dozens of Trump campaign ads which falsely claimed refugees were spreading COVID-19.
"We rejected these ads because we don't allow claims that people's physical safety, health, or survival is threatened by people on the basis of their national origin or immigration status," a Facebook spokesperson told NBC.
In March Facebook also removed a series of Trump ads which gave the false impression clicking on them would take users through to an official 2020 census page.
Facebook has been releasing a string new policies on political advertising in the run-up to November's presidential election, including a ban on any new political ads in the seven days prior to the election, and a ban on any ads that prematurely declare victory.
The social media giant announced a new addition to its policies on Wednesday, saying it won't allow ads that try to delegitimize the election's outcome, for example by claiming particular methods of voting are fraudulent.
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