The moment when Facebook’s removal of alleged Russian disinformation became a free-speech issue

SAN FRANCISCO — Left-leaning political activists accused Facebook of censorship when the social media giant removed an event listing this week that it said was part of a new disinformation campaign with ties to Russia.

Facebook said it had to act quickly to disclose that inauthentic operators were behind an upcoming event in Washington to counter a white-supremacist rally inspired by the deadly demonstration in Charlottesville last year. “Resisters,” the page that created the event, was among the 32 pages and accounts Facebook removed Tuesday.