The giant US social network, Facebook, has hit another false note. In an interview given on Wednesday 18 July to the US specialist Recode website, Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said that he considered it was not up to the social network to censure negationist ideas.
Mr Zuckerberg stated that “The approach that we’ve taken to false news is not to say, you can’t say something wrong on the internet. I think that that would be too extreme”.
He acknowledged that denying the existence of the Holocaust is “deeply offensive” but that even though he was a Jew, he believed that the platform should not prohibit these ideas and attempted to justify this view by explaining that “I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong”.
A few hours later he returned to the ideas he previously expressed, in an email sent to Recode in which he attempted to clarify that “I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that (…) Of course if a post crossed the line into advocating for violence or hate against a particular group, it would be removed”.
This came too late, however, and the dispute has further expanded. Philippe Meyer from the French section of the International Jewish organisation, B'nai B’rith, stated on Twitter that “Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to censure negationist ideas on Facebook is shameful. The duty to remember is non-negotiable. The truth of the Shoah is irrefutable. Anti-Semitic hatred should not be allowed to circulate”.
Contrary to several European countries, negationism is not considered an offence in the US and is covered by the freedom of expression protected by the Constitution. Only incitement to commit violence is covered by the law.
The response from Germany was swift and Katarina Barley, the German Minister for Justice responded on Thursday on Twitter by stating that “There is no place for anti-Semitism. Verbal and physical attacks are part of this, as is the denial of the Holocaust. Here, it is a punishable offence”.
Since 1 January 2018, German legislation effectively requires that the major social media platforms swiftly withdraw content if it is blatantly illegal, failing which they could receive fines of up to €50 million.
To consult the complete interview please see: https://bit.ly/2NrJEgS (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)