Donald Trump: Michael Moore Wants Facebook To Dump Trump

While Donald Trump retains a commanding lead in the GOP polls, Michael Moore (like most on the left) doesn’t have much love for the reality TV star. In fact, the notorious left-wing documentary filmmaker is so disgusted with Donald Trump’s seemingly endless, controversy-inciting rhetoric that he’s trying to get it removed from social media. Michael Moore has recruited Facebook users to get Donald Trump’s posts removed from the site, calling them “hate speech,” reports Addicting Info.

Michael Moore posted a call to action to his followers on his Facebook page, citing the social media website’s terms of use policy, which prohibits the posting of hate speech.

“Facebook prohibits all its users from using hate speech on its site (‘You will not post content that is hate speech’). I’m joining others today in filing a complaint with Facebook that Trump’s Facebook page is using hate speech to promote racism and bigotry. Please file your complaint, too. Here’s how: Go to Trump’s page facebook.com/DonaldTrump. Click ‘Report.’ Then click ‘It shouldn’t be on FB.’ Then click ‘Hate Speech.’ Then click either ‘race or ethnicity’ or ‘religious group.’ That’s it. Let’s get a few million doing this by the end of the day!”

In addition to the call to action with clear instructions, Michael Moore also included a visual aid in his post. The photo gives clear directions to any of his fans interested in seeing Donald Trump’s posts (or even his entire Facebook page) removed from the site.

Michael Moore is not the first person to call the words of Donald Trump “hate speech.” There has been plenty of talk from the left and even within the Republican Party about the hateful, divisive, and polarizing nature of some of the comments and political ideas put forth by Trump. North Jersey reports that hate speech is “going mainstream,” citing recent scathing reports by the New York Times and the Washington Post which called out some of the recent public comments Donald Trump has made, ultimately determining they meet the definition of hate speech.

The report when on to state that during Donald Trump’s increasingly controversial political campaign, internet traffic to white supremacist websites has increased. Public interest in white supremacist organizations has reportedly increased as well.

While Michael Moore and his effort to have what he calls the “hate speech” of Donald Trump removed from Facebook has attracted a lot of surprise and attention, Moore’s call to action does seem to be in line with current Facebook policy. It also mirrors a recent statement from the founder of the social media site, Mark Zuckerberg.

The New York Times reports that just days ago, Zuckerberg, who’s Jewish, reassured Muslim Facebook users that they were welcome on the social media site. His reassuring message came days after Donald Trump announced a potential presidential policy that would bar all Muslim immigration to the U.S.

“I want to add my voice in support of Muslims in our community and around the world…As a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up against attacks on all communities…If you’re a Muslim in this community, as the leader of Facebook I want you to know that you are always welcome here and that we will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you.”

It remains to be seen how successful the call to action put out by Michael Moore will ultimately be. If Facebook does start censoring the posts of or even removing the entire page of a front-running U.S. presidential candidate like Donald Trump, it also raises some serious ethical questions.

Social media has become an integral communication and advertising platform. Most of us use it daily. Many of us get everything from our horoscopes to our breaking news on one social media site or another. Facebook alone has over a billion daily users. If Donald Trump is silenced on the most widely-used social media platform in the world, how will that impact his ability to freely and fairly campaign in accordance with U.S. law?

On the other hand, many of the over one billion daily users of Facebook are Muslim. Like Michael Moore pointed out and Mark Zuckerberg reiterated, hate speech is prohibited on the site, and Muslims are welcome. It’s difficult to feel welcome when you’re being bombarded by shared Donald Trump posts calling for Muslims to be put in a national database or be forced to carry special IDs, as though we live in Nazi Germany.

While the Moore vs. Trump drama will almost certainly continue to play out, the ultimate decision lies with the powers that be at Facebook. Regardless of whether Facebook chooses to cave to Michael Moore and his army of “hate speech reporters” or Donald Trump, this is clearly far from over.

[Image Courtesy Of Sean Rayford/Getty Images]