In early July 2021, Facebook users shared a post that contained a meme and a comment that claimed without evidence that the meme had been removed from the social media platform by Facebook.
Originally posted in 2019, the post contains and image of the flag along with the Pledge of Allegiance, and a "challenge" to repost the meme.
We reached out to Facebook asking whether Facebook had removed the image at any point, but didn't get a response in time for publication. We will update if and when we do.
Given that the meme is currently viewable on Facebook and, as of this writing, has been there for at least two years, however, it's unlikely that Facebook took it down on purpose at any point. Sometimes, Facebook's algorithms mistakenly limit posts, a phenomenon that has bred false claims that Facebook was "censoring" religious or patriotic content.
The original Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1891 by Francis Bellamy. The phrase "under God" was added in the 1950s, and it currently reads, "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The constitutionality of the phrase, because of its religious implications, has long been contested.