Dov Hikind, former New York state assemblyman and current Chairman of the Coalition for a Positive America, is demanding that Facebook apologize and take action after allowing calls to assassinate President Trump and Vice President Pence to be broadcast on their platform.

On February 18, DC Comics artist Trevor Von Eeden, a Bronx, NY resident, posted a message to his 2200 Facebook friends, suggesting that what would be “great in America” was if someone made history with “the very first Presidential double assassination ever.”

One of Hikind’s constituents flagged the post for being in violation of Facebook’s “community standards” for promoting violence and contacted the social media giant. Three days later, Facebook replied to the complainant that they had reviewed the post and that it was found to not have violated Facebook’s community standards.

SEE ORIGINAL POST HERE
SEE FACEBOOK RESPONSE HERE
SEE USER RESPONSE HERE

“When I saw the exchange from Facebook, I was speechless,” said Hikind. “Here is a man calling for the actual assassination of President Trump and Vice President Pence on Facebook, and Facebook is okay with this? It would be one thing to say they didn’t know about it but they’ve ‘reviewed’ the post and say it’s fine? Shocking! Facebook’s senior management needs to address this immediately!

“And is DC Comics – the home of Batman and Superman – also ok with an artist of theirs, who attaches his name to their trademarks, encouraging a nut to shoot at the President and Vice President because that person will achieve, in his words, ‘everlasting fame and the undying gratitude of an entire nation’?

“It’s bad enough that someone would write something like this, but we know the world is full of cranks and deranged people. The real question is how can Facebook allow this violent speech against a sitting president and vice president to remain? Would they do so if it was, say, Bernie Sanders who one of their clients was suggesting should be assassinated? Or Senator Gillibrand? Is it only certain elected officials? And does Facebook now allow for calls of violence against certain races, too? What are the parameters for who Facebook says can be targeted? Facebook has some explaining to do.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)