Simon Wiesenthal Center Hails Facebook Decision to Ban Holocaust Denial

October 12, 2020

The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), a leading Jewish Human Rights NGO devoted to the memory of the Holocaust and imparting its lessons, is hailing today’s announcement by Facebook that it will ban the denial of history’s most documented crime against humanity from all of its platforms and that it will redirect anyone trying to post such material to reliable online resources:
 
“Denying the Holocaust has never been about free speech, but only as a tool for genocide-seeking Iran, neo-Nazis and bigots to demean the dead and threaten the living,” said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, Founder and CEO and Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action for the Wiesenthal Center.
 
“At a time when the Internet is awash with fake news and technological tools that enable governments and virtually anyone to manipulate information we welcome Facebook’s change of policy to stand with historic fact and the 6 million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany during WWII.
 
“Does Facebook’s announcement really make a difference? Yes. Just recently, the Iranian regime doubled down on its Jew-hatred by launching its third annual Holocaust Denial Cartoon contest; a principal in Florida who refuses to acknowledge the Holocaust as historic fact was rehired by a school board; and a poll indicates that most young Americans know virtually about history’s worst crime. The SWC therefore commends Facebook for redirecting anyone seeking to question or deny the Nazi Holocaust to reliable sources online which will educate them to the truth.
 
“Now is the time for all Social Media companies to erase this hate from their platforms,” Rabbi Hier and Cooper concluded.

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).