In reaction to the news that Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the social media giant is to finally ban Holocaust denial and Holocaust distortion, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President, Conference of European Rabbis, has issued the following statement:
“Finally, something has happened – even if this step was long overdue. We welcome Facebook’s decision that in future it will no longer allow content and posts denying the Holocaust. However, this can only be the beginning – especially amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Online antisemitism and right-wing extremism rages too much across all social media platforms and poisons social cohesion. Hate speech should have no place within our society whatsoever. Facebook and other social media giants still have a long way to go to eradicate such vitriolic hate speech.”