After Facebook vowed to crack down on content pertaining to Holocaust denial, it seems that the platform still hasn’t done enough to eradicate this. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has found that Facebook still has ineffective enforcement policies for this kind of hate speech.
Facebook Hasn’t Been Enforcing Its Own Policy
In a press release on the ADL website, the organization revealed Facebook’s shortcomings in removing content related to Holocaust denial.
Facebook promised that it would ban any posts that deny the Holocaust in October of 2020. Previously, the platform let Holocaust denial run rampant on the platform, and this change was supposed to put a stop to that.
The ADL did an in-depth investigation on Holocaust denial content across various social platforms, and found that Facebook stands out as one of the worst offenders.
Facebook received a grade of “D” in the ADL’s official report card on Holocaust denial. Other platforms, like Reddit and Discord, received the same poor grade. Meanwhile, Twitch received a grade of “B,” the highest of the bunch.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of ADL noted that “while some platforms have finally stepped up their efforts to stop the amplification of denial, others are still struggling to address antisemitism and Holocaust denial effectively.” It seems that Facebook is one of these struggling platforms.
Facebook has since disagreed with the ADL’s findings, and commented on the matter in a statement to CNET, saying:
We don’t agree—we’ve made major progress in fighting Holocaust denial on Facebook by implementing a new policy prohibiting it and enforcing against these hateful lies in every country around the world.
After the ADL report surfaced, Guy Rosen, Facebook’s VP of Integrity made a post on the About Facebook Blog. Rosen mentioned a change coming to the platform to curtail the prevalence of Holocaust denial.
He noted that whenever a user searches for “terms associated with either the Holocaust or Holocaust denial,” they’ll see a prompt that encourages them to “connect with credible information about the Holocaust off Facebook.” For now, the notification will be rolled out to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States.
Facebook’s Continuing Battle With Hate Speech
Facebook’s failure to properly remove content that denies the Holocaust shows the platform’s inefficiency at eliminating hate speech. If the ADL found fault with Facebook in this regard, Facebook is likely not doing a good job policing other types of hate speech.
The platform banned Jewish conspiracy theories and blackface in August 2020, but it’s unclear as to whether Facebook is strictly enforcing these policies or not.