Author says ads promoting his book about Abraham Lincoln rejected by Facebook
‘Old Abe’ author John Cribb says ‘it’s absurd’ that Facebook decided not to advertise his historical novel about Abraham Lincoln.
"Old Abe" author John Cribb told "Fox & Friends" on Thursday that ads promoting his historical novel about Abraham Lincoln have been rejected by Facebook, calling the decision "absurd."
Cribb noted that the social media giant rejected the request by his publisher, Republic Book Publishers, to advertise the book "Old Abe" on Facebook and also rejected their appeal.
He said that in December Republic Book Publishers "decided to do a couple of social media ads and they made some very nice ads and submitted them to Facebook and Facebook turned them down and we appealed and Facebook said no."
Cribb said he was told Facebook’s reasoning is, "that this ad apparently, according to Facebook, violates this ban on social issues and politics and the election, which they put into place right before the presidential election."
Facebook did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
On Thursday, Cribb noted that "this is the kind of collateral damage you get when these Big Tech giants make these sweeping rules that affect millions and millions of people about what can and can't be said in the public square."
"Like it or not social media is a big part of the social square now," he continued.
Cribb then warned that "you’re going to get more of this, the more they try to control speech."
Earlier this month former President Trump’s Facebook account was suspended after posting a video telling protesters who stormed the Capitol Building, erupting in violent protests which led to multiple deaths, to "go home" while maintaining that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from him.
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On Thursday Cribb noted that Abraham Lincoln "is the man who led the effort to … save our country when it was literally falling apart" and "led the effort to defend our founding principles and helped lead the effort to free millions of enslaved Americans."
"You can look at anybody's life from decades or centuries ago and pick out things that don't measure up to 21st century standards," he said.
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"With these historical figures you have to take them in the totality of their acts and their lives," he added. "And by any measure, Abraham Lincoln lived a great life and his accomplishments are magnificent."
Fox News’ Brooke Signman and Fox Business’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
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