Advertisements that promoted “sexual purity” and gay conversion therapy, often aimed at LGBTQ users, have been pulled down from Facebook.
The ads, which were spotted by The Telegraph, targeted users that had shown an interest in “gender issues” on the platform.
A video titled “Homosexuality Was My Identity” and promoting conversion therapy was shown to one user in 2017 that had like LGBTQ-friendly pages, according to The Telegraph. Another user saw an ad for “Help For Men With Same-sex Attraction,” a book by an evangelical therapist, after showing an interest in gender issues on Facebook.
The two ads have since been removed from Facebook, following the outlet’s investigation.
“We do not allow ads that promote gay conversion therapy or that imply personal attributes about people, like their sexual orientation,” Facebook said in a statement to TheWrap. “We quickly removed these ads after further review. While enforcement is never perfect, we’re always working to find and remove ads that violate our policies.”
Facebook’s advertising policy prohibits posts that “engage in predatory advertising practices or contain content that discriminates against, harasses, provokes or disparages people who use Facebook or Instagram.”