10 No. 57 JUSTICE ntroduction In this article, I take issue with Facebook’s policy that allows Holocaust denial on its web pages because its directors believe that Holocaust denial is not hateful per se. I aim to show that it is hateful and that Facebook and other networking sites should reconsider their position in line with their own terms of conduct. All Internet providers and web-hosting companies whose terms of service disallow hateful messages on their servers should not host or provide forums for such hate-mongering. This is of paramount importance as Holocaust denial is prevalent in Europe, in the United States, and across Arab and Muslim parts of the world. While some countries, mainly in Europe, prohibit Holocaust denial by law, other countries have no such prohibitions. The question, however, is not only legal. It is also ethical and a matter of social responsibility for Internet service providers (ISP) and Web-Hosting Services (WHS) to decide whether or not they wish to host this kind of hate speech on their servers. Background January 27 has been designated by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. On this day, we remember the six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazi regime. Despite clear historical evidence, some people deny the Holocaust. The Internet has become a very handy platform for spreading those claims and for making a case for what the deniers term “revisionist history.” Among the major social networking sites that allow Holocaust denial on their platform, Facebook is the most prevalent. Facebook prohibits posting content that is hateful or threatening. Facebook disabled a group called "I Hate Muslims in Oz." Barry Schnitt explained: “We disabled the ‘I Hate Muslims in Oz’ group… because it contained an explicit statement of hate. Where Holocaust-denial groups have done this and been reported, we’ve taken the same action."1 In May 2010, Facebook took down a page titled “Kill a Jew Day,” which urged Netusers to violence “anywhere you see a Jew” between July 4 and July 22. Facebook distinguishes between an "explicit statement of hate" and Holocaust denial. Its directors believe that Holocaust denial is not hateful per se and does not therefore contravene the company’s terms of service. The terms of service state: “You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.”2 Many of the gatekeepers of the large IT companies – Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Twitter-- are young Americans who were brought up on the values of the First Amendment.3 For them, freedom of expression is the most important principle that guides their actions. So much so that Facebook at first did not have rules on what speech violated its terms of service,4 and Twitter ’s only exception to free speech stipulates that “You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.”5 Consequently, hate speech is legitimate, protected speech. But the role of gatekeepers, which gives them great powers, also requires great responsibility. A balance needs to be struck between freedom of expression and social responsibility, between rowdiness and civility, between the desire to have an open wide marketplace of ideas, and ascertaining that the marketplace of ideas does not facilitate violence and lawlessness. Holocaust Denial What do we mean by "Holocaust denial"? Why does this form of speech constitute hate? If you ask a person on the street what he or she knows about the Holocaust, and the answer is that he or she has never heard of it, this cannot be considered as Holocaust denial. Ignorance and denying reality are not forms of hate. Even if the person Facebook and Holocaust Denial I Raphael Cohen-Almagor 1. Chris Matyszczyk, Facebook disables ‘hate Muslims’ group, CNET, June 10, 2009, available at news.cnet.com/830117852_3-10262136-71.html (last visited Oct. 19, 2015). 2. See www.facebook.com/terms.php (last visited Oct. 19, 2015). 3. http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1.html 4. Jeffrey Rosen, The Delete Squad, NEW REPUBLIC (April 29, 2013), available at www.newrepublic.com/article/113045/ free-speech-internet-silicon-valley-making-rules (last visited Oct. 19, 2015). 5. The Twitter Rules, support.twitter.com/articles/18311the-twitter-rules (last visited Oct. 19, 2015).
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