Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 5, 2019

JTA Facebook will still allow users to deny the Holocaust even though it removed prominent bigots and anti-Semites from its platform.

The social media giant on Thursdaydeletedthe personal, professional and fan accounts of some leading extremists and conspiracy theorists, including David Duke, Louis Farrakhan and Alex Jones. But in an April 9 letter, Joel Kaplan, Facebooks vice president of global public policy, said the site would still allow users to say things on Facebook that are wrong or inaccurate, even when they are offensive.

The letter was obtained byJewish Insiderand published Thursday.

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We take down any content that celebrates, defends, or attempts to justify the Holocaust, Kaplan wrote. But we do not remove lies or content that is inaccurate whether its denying the Holocaust, the Armenian massacre, or the fact that the Syrian government has killed hundreds of thousands of its own people.

Last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergstated the same policy.

Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg testifies during a US House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing about Facebook on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 11, 2018. (AFP/Saul Loeb)

Im Jewish, and theres a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened, he told the tech news site Recode. I find that deeply offensive. But at the end of the day, I dont believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I dont think that theyre intentionally getting it wrong

Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time that Facebook should not allow denial claims.

Freedom of the press means the press should be free of governmental control, she wrote in an email. It does not mean that the press or social media platforms have to provide space for deniers.

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Although it is removing bigots, Facebook says it will allow Holocaust ...

Category: Holocaust Denial
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