Facebook Removes Two Holocaust Denial Groups
Amit Chowdhry | Tuesday May 12, 2009 | 341 views
Over the last week, Facebook has been criticized for not deleting groups that promote the denial of the Holocaust. The biggest debate around these groups was the issue of free speech and Facebook’s terms of service (TOS). Brian Cuban, a Dallas-based attorney and brother of Mark Cuban, has been pushing for the removal of the Holocaust denial groups.
“The Holocaust Denial movement is nothing more than a pretext to allow the preaching of hatred against Jews and to recruit other like minded individuals to do the same. Allowing these groups to flourish on Facebook under the guise of ‘open discussion’ does nothing more than help spread their message of hate,” wrote Brian Cuban on his blog. “Is this the kind of open discussion that Facebook wants to encourage? Is this really where you want to draw your line?”
Since Cuban started pushing for the removal and additional coverage was made at TechCrunch, two out of the five groups have been disabled. Three of them remain. Facebook has pushed for the removal of pictures that show breastfeeding and even recently banned a Ku Klux Klan group. Why they are taking their time removing the Holocaust Denial groups is a mystery to me.
Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt responded the controversy being stirred by Brian Cuban and Michael Arrington (TechCrunch). Schnitt wrote “Many of us at Facebook have direct personal connection to the Holocaust, through parents who were forced to flee Europe or relatives who could not escape. We believe in Facebook’s mission that giving people tools to make the world more open is a better way to combat ignorance or deception than censorship, though we recognize that others–including those at the company, disagree.”
[via CNET]
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Categorized under Barry Schnitt, Brian Cuban, Facebook, Michael Arrington
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