(AP) – Facebook bans posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will begin directing people to authoritative sources if they are looking for information about the Nazi genocide
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy on Monday, the company’s latest attempt to take action against conspiracy theories and disinformation ahead of the US presidential election at three weeks
The move comes amid a push by Holocaust survivors around the world who have lent their voices to a campaign targeting Zuckerberg from this summer, urging him to take action to suppress messages from social media site Holocaust denial
Coordinated by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the #NoDenyingIt campaign used Facebook itself to bring survivors’ pleas to Zuckerberg, posting one video a day urging him to suppress the groups , pages and publications that deny the Holocaust speech
Facebook said on Monday that the new policy « is supported by the well-documented rise in anti-Semitism around the world and the alarming level of ignorance about the Holocaust, particularly among young people »Polls have shown that some young Americans believe the Holocaust was a myth or was exaggerated
The Anti-Defamation League reported that incidents of white supremacist propaganda spread across the US surged more than 120% between 2018 and last year The group also said this summer to have found a number of Holocaust denial groups on Facebook, some hidden and the most private
Tech companies began to pledge to take a stronger stand against accounts used to promote hate and violence after a 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Va., where a self-proclaimed white supremacist rushed into a crowd of counter-protesters Yet Facebook and other companies have been slower to respond to posts that amplify false information but do not pose an immediate threat of violence or other physical harm
Zuckerberg said in a blog post on Monday that he believed the new policy struck the « right balance » in drawing the line between what is and what is not acceptable speech
« I struggled with the tension between defending free speech and the harm done by downplaying or denying the horror of the Holocaust, » he wrote « My own way of thinking has evolved as I have seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our more general hate speech policies «
Zuckerberg had raised the ire of the New York-based Claims Conference and others with comments in 2018 on the tech website Recode that posts denying the Nazi annihilation of 6 million Jews would not be necessarily deleted He said he did not believe Holocaust deniers were « intentionally » wrong, and that as long as posts did not call for harm or violence, even offensive content should be protected.
After an outcry, Zuckerberg, who is himself Jewish, clarified that if he personally found « Holocaust denial deeply offensive » he believed « the best way to combat offensive bad speech is to talk about a good speech »
Monday’s Complaints Conference said it welcomed Zuckerberg’s change in approach and the company’s decision to take action
« This is a very important statement and it is essential to ensure that this kind of anti-Semitism is not amplified, » said Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the group
The group released its 75th video testimony on Sunday of a Holocaust survivor appealing directly to Zuckerberg Fred Kurz, an American born in Austria in 1937, described the loss of both his parents in concentration camps
Zuckerberg never met the group directly, but Schneider said he believed the voice of the survivors and their « moral authority » had made a difference
« Honestly, I’m a little surprised it took 75 days, but I’m glad it happened, » he said
Facebook said on Monday it would immediately begin removing Holocaust denial posts from Facebook and Instagram, which it owns, but it could take some time to train the company’s technical systems and human moderators to apply it globally
Another group that pushed Facebook to take a tougher line on Holocaust denial said Monday’s decision was a milestone
« Facebook shows that it recognizes Holocaust denial for what it really is – a form of anti-Semitism and therefore hate speech, » said Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, in a statement. prepared press release
The Holocaust, Holocaust denial, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg
News from the world – United States – Facebook bans Holocaust denial and distortion messages
