Nashville-based country music group The Wes Cook Band said that Facebook did not allow them use the social platform’s paid tools to promote the group’s song, “I Stand for the Flag,” because of “political content.”
The band released their music video on Tuesday and had intended to promote the song using Facebook’s paid promotions tools, according to Yahoo.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart! Got some big things coming up today. Please continue to share the music video for ‘I Stand For the Flag’. This is a song for all Americans. Thanks again. #AnAmericanAnthem #TheRusticFlag #4thofJuly #IndependenceDay #FitOpsFoundation pic.twitter.com/t5b5vLaTr8
— Wes Cook Band (@wescookband) July 3, 2018
The advertisement had already been approved by Facebook but was later rejected. The reason the video was rejected was because Facebook’s new algorithm tagged it as “political content.”
But the band’s front man, Wes Cook, argued that the song is about patriotism and not dividing the nation.
“Our song bleeds unity and love of country. It doesn’t see race, color, religion or political affiliation,” Cook told Fox News.
He added: “’I Stand for the Flag’ means I am thankful for the freedoms and opportunities this country gives all citizens, and shows how dependent we all are on each other for the success of our individual American Dream. I believe patriotism is not political.”
Lyrics to the song include “you ain’t gotta pick a side; you can love your fellow man and still have pride.”
The band stands by the fact that the song is patriotic and not political, even with Facebook’s algorithm calling the video political.
Facebook has been under attack recently for how it handles ads, especially those with a political agenda, ever since the last U.S. Presidential election, which Russia is accused of meddling in and influencing.
During that time, it was discovered that 3,000 advertisement campaigns on Facebook were traced to Kremlin-linked Russian companies.
This forced social media platforms to start using tools to track political campaign ads and who paid for the ads in an attempt to combat “fake news.”
