Israel welcomes Facebook ban on Holocaust denial content

Israel on Tuesday lauded Facebook’s decision to ban Holocaust denial content on its platform.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted: “we welcome this vital step by @Facebook against cyberhate. Holocaust denial is not a matter of historical debate, it is the most pernicious form of #antisemitism.”

The social media giant said on Monday that it was concerned by rising anti-Semitism.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said “if people search for the Holocaust on Facebook, we will start directing you to authoritative sources to get accurate information.’’

He said the company is expanding its hate speech policy, which has previously removed posts praising hate crimes or mass murder, to also “prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust.’’

Zuckerberg drew criticism in 2018 when he said in an interview that Facebook should not remove Holocaust-denying content.

“I’m Jewish, and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened. I find that deeply offensive,’’ he told technology news website Recode at the time.

“But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong.’’

Around 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Third Reich.