Facebook to ban content that denies or distorts the Holocaust
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Facebook Inc said on Monday it was updating its hate speech policy to ban any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust.
The move comes two years after Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a 2018 interview with tech website Recode said that while he found Holocaust denial deeply offensive, he did not think Facebook should delete such content.
“I’ve struggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust,” said Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, in a Facebook post on Monday.
“My own thinking has evolved as I’ve seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech,” he said.
The social media company said that, starting later this year, it would also direct people searching for terms associated with the Holocaust or its denial to credible information off Facebook.
The World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee praised the move.
“For several years, the World Jewish Congress has advocated for Facebook to remove Holocaust denial content from its platform,” that group said in a statement.
