Facebook took down a far-right congressional candidate's photo showing her holding a gun next to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the 'Squad'

• Facebook on Friday pulled down an image posted by GOP congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene showing Greene holding a rifle next to pictures of three Democratic congresswomen.
• The text of the post — which bashes "hate America leftists ... who want to rip our country apart" — remains on Greene's page.
• Greene, a QAnon conspiracist with a history of making racist comments, was endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Facebook on Friday removed an image shared by Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene — in which she is holding an assault rifle next to pictures of three freshman Democratic congresswomen — because the post violated the site's policy on "violence and incitement," according to Facebook spokesman Andy Stone.

The image was published on Greene's campaign Facebook page on Thursday but was deleted the next day after reporters and lawmakers condemned it.

"Posting a photo with an assault rifle next to the faces of three women of color is not advertising. It's incitement," Rep. Ilhan Omar, featured in Greene's image, tweeted Friday morning. "There are already death threats in response to this post."

The text of the post — which implies that Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Rashida Tlaib are "America leftists ... who want to rip our country apart" — wasn't taken down.

"I NEVER threatened violence to the squad or anyone," Greene told Business Insider on Friday. "My post with the meme said America needs fighters who speak the truth."

"Speaking the truth is not threatening violence, the squad refusing to condemn and supporting Antifa/BLM violence is the real danger to all of us," she added.

Greene refused to apologize and instead accused Omar on Twitter of endorsing violent demonstrators.

"Relax @IlhanMN, it's just a meme," Greene tweeted. "What isn't a meme is BLM / ANTIFA violence, rioting, and destruction that occurred on Minneapolis streets. While your city was being burned and innocent people of color like David Dorn were killed, you called BLM / ANTIFA peaceful protesters."

Omar has said "we should and must protest peacefully" in response to looting and rioting following the killing of George Floyd by police in her home state earlier this year.

Spokespeople for Omar, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to "condemn this dangerous threat of violence" in a tweet on Friday.

Greene, a QAnon conspiracist endorsed by President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary runoff in Georgia's 14th district last month. She's virtually guaranteed to win the general election in her deep red district and join the lawmakers she's attacked in Congress next year.

Four freshmen progressive congresswomen of color — Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley — refer to their alliance as a "Squad."

Greene also has a documented history of making Islamophobic and racist comments.

But Trump celebrated her win in a tweet, calling her a "future Republican Star" who's "strong on everything."

Apparently in response to Facebook's move, Greene announced on Twitter that she would auction off the rifle she's shown holding in the photo.

"Nothing scares the radical left more than a free thinking, gun-toting, conservative woman. It completely destroys their narrative that all women should be Democrats!" she wrote in part.

This isn't the first time Greene has violated Facebook's policies. The social media giant removed one of her campaign ads earlier this year for "brandishing" her assault weapon while lambasting "Antifa terrorists."

Greene has featured the "Squad" in many other campaign materials and depicted the women as threats.

In one recent Facebook post, she juxtaposed photos of the four congresswomen with one of herself on a horse and wrote, "These radical women scare some Republicans, but they don't scare this American woman. Stop the socialist Squad!"

Another campaign ad sticks to the same narrative, with Greene saying, "AOC wants to plunge us into Communism — she is clueless about how capitalism even works."

This story has been updated to note that Facebook removed the photo for violating its "violence and incitement" policies and to add comment from Greene.

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