
Is your Facebook feed full of Holocaust-denying posts? Are you rid of this ridiculous thing? Well, then the new policy of Facebook is going to clean your Facebook feed. Yes, the superstar company of social media, Facebook, has taken a decision against Holocaust posts that they are banning the Holocaust-denying posts.
What does Facebook hate speech policy say?
According to the hate speech policy of Facebook, if you deny or prohibit the Holocaust, then there isn’t any place for you on Facebook. Your photos, videos, audios, blog posts, or any other media type will be discarded from Facebook. So, they are working very tight against those communities to take them down from the platform.
22.5 Millions hate speeches are no more with us
Additionally, Facebook took down 250 white supremacist firms and 22.5 million pieces of hate speech in the second quarter of this year. The organizations that are dealing with the trends have reported the surge in online attacks against many online communities all over the globe.
Why Facebook Bans Holocaust-denying Posts?
So, Facebook has great concerns for young adults who don’t believe in the Holocaust. Yes, according to Facebook news, some recent surveys showed that from age 18 – 39 years old, the US believed that the Holocaust was a myth, or this was exaggerated so much. And, to remove this mentality from youth and others, they are making their policy very strict against Holocaust-denying Posts.
“We have long withdrawn the advocacy messages of hate crimes and mass killings, including the Holocaust. But with the rise of anti-Semitism, we are extending our rule to ban any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust as well,
”Mark Zuckerberg, boss of the social media giant, said on his profile on Monday. Users researching the Holocaust will be redirected “to authoritative sources of information,”
he said
What about Revisionism and Denialism?
In the United States, revisionism and denialism are not prohibited and case law tends to place them under the protection of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression. “I struggled with this dilemma, between supporting freedom of expression and the damage caused by the fact of minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust”, elaborates the founder of the platform. But “my own thinking evolved when I saw the data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence.”
A quarter of 18-39-year-olds doubt the reality of the Holocaust
A Facebook statement released on Monday cites a study that found nearly a quarter of Americans between the ages of 18 and 39 believe the Holocaust is a “myth”, that “it is overkill” or “are not sure.” He recalls that the network has already recently banned anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jewish power, which often figure in conspiracy theories.
In the summer of 2018, Mark Zuckerberg, who is himself Jewish, explained that he did not want to remove denial messages from Facebook. Last July, a Facebook spokesperson further indicated that the social network was not removing content “just because it’s false”. Genocide survivors, however, asked the boss of the Californian group to remove denial content.
The American anti-Semitism organization Anti Defamation League (ADL) had just given several examples of private groups on Facebook in which users openly questioned the existence of the Holocaust or its extent.
This measure of Facebook “took years to take shape,” reacted on Twitter Jonathan Greenblatt, president of the ADL.
“Having personally worked with Facebook on this subject, I can attest that banning Holocaust denial is major (…). Glad it finally happened ”.
His NGO, associated with other civil society organizations, led this summer an advertising boycott followed by hundreds of companies against the social network, to force it to better monitor so-called “hate” content.