Facebook will begin taking down Holocaust denial posts, reversing its long-held stance against policing the anti-Semitic content.<\/p>\n
The social network made the change Monday when it updated its\u00a0hate speech policies, citing \u201cthe well-documented rise in anti-Semitism globally and the alarming level of ignorance about the Holocaust, especially among young people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Facebook will soon begin directing users who search its platform for terms associated with the Holocaust to credible information not hosted on its website.<\/p>\n
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, wrote on his personal Facebook page that he has \u201cstruggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDrawing the right lines between what is and isn\u2019t acceptable speech isn\u2019t straightforward, but with the current state of the world, I believe this is the right balance,\u201d\u00a0he wrote.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg in 2018 was harshly criticized for\u00a0comments he made\u00a0defending Facebook\u2019s previous policy of allowing the content on its site, when he appeared to argue that Holocaust denial isn\u2019t necessarily spurred by hate.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I don\u2019t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n
Back in August, a UK-based anti-extremist organization found that Facebook\u2019s algorithms not only allowed Holocaust-denial content, but in some cases\u00a0actively promoted it.<\/p>\n
The researchers discovered at least 36 groups with a combined 366,068 followers hosting content denying the Nazi genocide, and found that searching for \u201cHolocaust\u201d on Facebook returned suggestions for groups denying the atrocity, which in turn linked to publishers peddling revisionist history literature.<\/p>\n\n
Facebook will begin taking down Holocaust denial posts, reversing its long-held stance against policing the anti-Semitic content. The social network made the change Monday when it updated its\u00a0hate speech policies, citing \u201cthe well-documented rise in anti-Semitism globally and the alarming level of ignorance about the Holocaust, especially among young people.\u201d Facebook will soon begin directing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[3412],"yoast_head":"\n