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Dear John,

Finally.

Facebook announced today that it has taken a step we have been urging them towards for more than a decade: calling Holocaust denial and distortion what it is — “hate speech” — and announcing plans to remove it from their platform.

The Holocaust, the systematic murder of approximately six million Jews and several million others during World War II, is one of history’s most painstakingly examined and well-documented genocides.

Since at least 2011,
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ADL has been calling publicly and privately for Facebook to change its policies to classify Holocaust denial on its platform as a form of hate speech. While Facebook has made numerous positive changes to its policies since that time, it stubbornly had held onto this outrageous platform policy, even in the face of the undeniable threat of growing antisemitism and antisemitic violence around the world and during an election season where users have been using the platform to perpetuate hate and conspiracy theories at alarming rates.

As Facebook finally decides to take a stance against Holocaust denial and distortion, we believe they are acting now because of external pressure coming from a variety of sources: the
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Stop Hate for Profit campaign led by ADL and prominent civil rights organizations; the #NoDenyingIt effort led by the Claims Conference; alarming new polling on Holocaust awareness among young people; regulatory pressure in Europe and America; recent congressional hearings in Washington D.C. and a hard-hitting letter from 20 state attorneys general.

Whatever forces led Facebook to make this decision, we believe it will have a positive impact on the experience of Jewish users on their platform.

It is an important move especially at a time when antisemitism is rising around the world. At ADL,
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we tracked more antisemitic incidents in the U.S. in 2019 than at any other point in the past 40 years. Similar trends in Europe also are troubling. And there is no doubt that the persistence of anti-Jewish content on Facebook even in the face of such anguish has contributed to the problem.

While we are relieved to learn this news, we also would note that decisions of this nature are only as good as the companies’ enforcement.

We hope that Facebook will follow up with regular progress reports documenting the steps they are taking to ensure that Holocaust denial and distortion permanently is expunged from their platform.

We will track those efforts, and keep you informed about this as you stand with ADL to Fight Hate for Good.
Sincerely,

Jonathan Greenblatt
CEO and National Director
ADL

P.S. For expert insights on online hate, including a panel on the vital need for Holocaust education, don’t miss
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Never Is Now: ADL’s Summit on Antisemitism and Hate, from Nov. 8-19. As the world’s largest event on antisemitism, hate and bigotry, Never Is Now is the best way to discuss antisemitism and hate and how to replace misinformation with facts. This year, it’s online and free, so we expect a bigger crowd than ever. At last year’s event, a
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fiery speech from Sacha Baron Cohen on this issue became a pivotal moment in the national conversation about the proliferation of hate on Facebook and has been viewed millions of times.
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