AYFKM?
Facebook’s Zuckerberg Won’t Ban Holocaust Deniers Because He Thinks They Don’t ‘Intentionally’ Get Facts Wrong

‘I Don’t Think That They’re Intentionally Getting It Wrong’ Facebook CEO Says of Holocaust Deniers
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, recently under fire for his company’s part in the Cambridge Analytica scandal that helped place Trump in the White House and for allowing “fake news” to take root on the platform, is about to be under fire for remarks he gave in a just published interview.
Zuckerberg told ReCode’s co-founder Kara Swisher that he allows Holocaust denial pages to stay on Facebook because it’s not clear their intent is to “get things wrong.”
Here is that portion of the interview. Zuckerberg’s remarks are not bolded, Swisher’s are in bold type:
I’m Jewish, and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened.
Yes, there’s a lot.
I find that deeply offensive. 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, but I think-
In the case of the Holocaust deniers, they might be, but go ahead.
It’s hard to impugn intent and to understand the intent. I just think, as abhorrent as some of those examples are, I think the reality is also that I get things wrong when I speak publicly. I’m sure you do. I’m sure a lot of leaders and public figures we respect do too, and I just don’t think that it is the right thing to say, “We’re going to take someone off the platform if they get things wrong, even multiple times.” What we will do is we’ll say, “Okay, you have your page, and if you’re not trying to organize harm against someone, or attacking someone, then you can put up that content on your page, even if people might disagree with it or find it offensive.” But that doesn’t mean that we have a responsibility to make it widely distributed in News Feed. I think we, actually, to the contrary-
The entire interview is important and you can read it on ReCode.
Meanwhile, on Twitter, some are making the case that something is either false or not, and if it’s false and damaging or dangerous, some suggest it should be banned:
This is insane. He’s right that there’s a huge grey area between perfect truth and pernicious lies and that policing that zone is difficult. . . but Holocaust denial isn’t in it! https://t.co/JMpt0undXx
— Michael Hobbes (@RottenInDenmark) July 18, 2018
It’s completely backwards.
The whole premise of the “marketplace of ideas” is that ideas compete and bad ideas get killed off by good ones through open debate. But things like Holocaust denial are not debates and they derive legitimacy through being able to air their hate openly
— Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) July 18, 2018
If *Holocaust denial* is Zuckerberg’s chosen example of something Facebook wouldn’t police, why should anyone have confidence the company wants to deal seriously with more pedestrian kinds of misinformation?
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) July 18, 2018
There are scholars who study the history & psychology of Holocaust denial. Zuckerberg is not apparently interested in them or even aware they exist.
Holocaust denial doesn’t stem from a lack of facts. It’s not an “uninformed” opinion. It is, however, deeply corrosive to society. https://t.co/mk4wbROqwy
— Peter A. Shulman 📚 (@pashulman) July 18, 2018
To be clear, there’s no First Amendment legal issue here. @Facebook is a platform owned and run by private citizens and can choose what content to allow. It’s their choice to treat things like Holocaust denial as acceptable discourse.https://t.co/Qi7jzOKO6I
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 18, 2018
That Zuckerberg quote about Holocaust denial deserves to be in some kind of hall of fame for actively harmful late-capitalist idiocy
— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) July 18, 2018
In no reasonable universe can Holocaust-denial be considered a legitimate theory.
The only people who advocate for it are antisemites; they advocate it because they believe the conspiracy theory that Jews run the world and Holocaust-denial fits into that conspiratorial worldview
— Pé Resists (@4everNeverTrump) July 18, 2018
If Holocaust denial is just a misunderstanding of facts — like people thinking Columbus proved the world was round or forgetting the dates of the 30 Years War — then there’s no reason for Jewish people to experience it as hurtful.
But we do because it’s not.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 18, 2018
Image by Anthony Quintano via Flickr and a CC license
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
![]() |