Facebook updating hate speech policy to ban Holocaust denial, distortion content, says Mark Zuckerberg

"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 Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

File Photo (Reuters)

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday (October 12, 2020) announced that the social media company is updating its hate speech policy to ban Holocaust denial.

"We've long taken down posts that praise hate crimes or mass murder, including the Holocaust. But with rising anti-Semitism, we're expanding our policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust as well," said Zuckerberg in a FB post.

"If people search for the Holocaust on Facebook, we’ll start directing you to authoritative sources to get accurate information," added Zuckerberg.

"I've struggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust." 

"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. Drawing the right lines between what is and isn't acceptable speech isn't straightforward, but with the current state of the world, I believe this is the right balance," expressed Zuckerberg.

Today we're updating our hate speech policy to ban Holocaust denial. We've long taken down posts that praise hate...

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, 12 October 2020

According to Reuters, the World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee have praised the decision.

"For several years, the World Jewish Congress has advocated for Facebook to remove Holocaust denial content from its platform, and has worked with the social media company’s policy teams to review such posts and classify them as hate speech under the company’s community standards," Reuters quoted the World Jewish Congress as saying.

As per a few reports, Zuckerberg had said in an interview in 2018 that while he found Holocaust denial deeply offensive, he did not think that Facebook should delete such content.