Facebook to include Holocaust denial in its definition of banned hate speech

Decision to change is based on increase of racist violence worldwide

Facebook is changing its rules to include Holocaust denial in its definition of hate speech, after facing criticism for not doing enough to tackle this form of disinformation.

Facebook based this decision on the increased levels of online attacks against many groups worldwide by individuals and organizations promoting bigotries and racism. They have already “banned over 250 white supremacist organizations” and have taken down 22.5 million pieces of hate speech from their platform in the second quarter of this year.

Considering Holocaust education is key to preventing various forms of racism, including antisemitism, Bickert announced that the ban will be complemented with efforts to enable Facebook users to access verified information by providing them links to credible historical sources outside of Facebook within the search results.

However, Facebook’s domicile jurisdiction of the USA does not have federal laws prohibiting hate speech.

According to Greenblatt, Facebook now needs to show how they fulfil these pledges, including by publishing regular monitoring reports on the concrete measures taken.

Facebook’s move met the approval of academic institutions that work to preserve memories of the mass murder from the past in order to prevent genocides in the future. The Illinois Holocaust Museum posted a statement on Twitter:

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