Facebook bars pro-Trump PAC from advertising, citing repeated false posts

Facebook Inc temporarily barred a Republican political action committee, the Committee to Defend the President, from advertising after the social media company's external fact-checkers deemed repeated posts to be false, it said on Thursday.

"As a result of the Committee to Defend the US President's repeated sharing of content determined by third-party fact-checkers to be false, they will not be permitted to advertise for a period of time on our platform," Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement.

The company declined to specify the length of the advertising ban or which of the committee's posts prompted it. Facebook does not permit fact-checking of politicians' ads, but does allow it for ads by political groups like PACs.

The group was founded as the Stop Hillary PAC in 2013 and has spent more than $15 million to advance the agenda of US President Donald Trump, according to its website. It claims to reach millions of Americans via digital and telemarketing channels.

It did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump campaign likewise did not immediately respond.

Reuters, which is one of Facebook's fact-checking partners, determined last month that one of the group's advertisements took a quote from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden out of context, misleadingly claiming he made racist comments in 1985. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.