Meta and X Approved Ads Containing Violent Hate Speech Ahead of German Election

Meta and X Approved Ads Containing Violent Hate Speech Ahead of German Election

This shocking discovery comes from Eko, a corporate responsibility nonprofit, which conducted research into how the two social media giants handle hate speech in their advertising systems. With Germany's federal election taking place on Sunday, February 23rd, and immigration being a central issue in the political discourse, Eko decided to test the platforms' ad review processes. The results were alarming. X approved all 10 of the hate speech ads submitted by Eko's researchers. These ads contained violent and discriminatory language, including anti-Muslim slurs, calls for violence against immigrants, and AI-generated images of mosques and synagogues being burned. Meta, while rejecting half of the ads, still approved five containing violent hate speech. These ads likened Muslim refugees to "viruses" and "vermin," branded them as "rapists," and called for their sterilization, burning, or gassing. One approved ad even called for synagogues to be tor…