We were surprised to learn from media reports that Facebook has blocked The Epoch Times ability to advertise for print-subscriptions. This appears to be a response to NBC News’ reporting on us.
Despite a vast “dark money” political conspiracy alleged in NBC News reporting, the reality is much simpler.
The Epoch Times has been running a very popular digital marketing campaign for our print-newspaper subscriptions. In the video advertisements, we discuss The Epoch Times’ editorial and feature content and encourage people to subscribe to our print newspaper.
Facebook has specific rules for advertising that require everyone—including publishers like The Epoch Times—to label content as political advertising if it touches on social issues or politics, something some news content naturally does. Many other media run advertising campaigns for their content and products in the same category on Facebook.
For example, click here to see Facebook advertisements by The New York Times in that category.
And click here to see Facebook advertisements by CNN in that category.
After Facebook, in July this year, blocked our ability to advertise on our main Epoch Times page, it did not provide us with a reason despite multiple requests for clarification. We have no reason to believe this is due to the content of the ads, since these were all approved by Facebook.
Since then, The Epoch Times has been publishing its advertising on a number of other, new Facebook pages. Without exception, these ads were overtly Epoch Times advertisements for our subscriptions. And there is no secret there, since it’s all open in public.
NBC’s representation of our print-subscription advertisements is blatantly incorrect. None of our advertising was done to “obfuscate” the connection to The Epoch Times; all the advertising was clearly for Epoch Times print subscriptions.
Further, NBC News and MSNBC content about us has been riddled with inaccuracies, blatant errors, and misrepresentations. We refer you to our previous statement: Click here to read it.
For example, NBC News dismissed but does not provide a single point of factual rebuttal to our extensive coverage of the actions by Obama-era officials to target the Trump campaign in 2016. The reality is that The Epoch Times has become a recognized leader in its coverage of this topic. The tireless reporting by our team of reporters based on actual evidence—including court documents, congressional testimony, and interviews—has received wide acclaim from readers across the country and validation from other media outlets, including The New York Times, which has cited our coverage.
What has come of free speech and freedom of the press if only media outlets that align with NBC’s views are allowed to advertise on Facebook? People across America are hungry for an independent and honest media, which is why The Epoch Times is now America’s fastest-growing newspaper.
Stephen Gregory
Publisher, U.S. editions
From The Epoch Times
