A political ad made for the U.S. Senate campaign of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and posted to social media has been removed by Facebook and flagged by Twitter for violating its prohibition of content featuring “abusive behavior.”
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said in a statement it had removed the video “for violating our policies prohibiting violence and incitement.”
In the ad, the Republican candidate calls on viewers to go “RINO hunting” referring to “Republicans in name only.” The ad also shows a small, well-equipped military unit storm into a house to illustrate the proposed “hunt.”
Twitter stopped short of pulling the video off the platform but explained the move in flagging the post.
“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about abusive behavior,” the Twitter flag read, atop the post. “However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
The social media platforms’ users were quicker in their reaction to the shocking video, slamming Greitens for “a campaign ad that literally, not metaphorically, advocates killing Republicans who are not sufficiently pro-Trump.”
The sexual misconduct allegations that led to the former governor’s 2018 resignation were heavily featured in the social media reaction to the video.