Trump official condemns Zuckerberg for refusing to remove Holocaust denial from Facebook

“Holocaust denial in the greatest country in the world should never be accepted and cannot be tolerated,” Packer stated.

By: World Israel News Staff

Paul Packer, appointed by President Donald Trump as chairman of the US Commission to Preserve America’s Heritage Abroad, has sent an official letter to Mark Zuckerberg condemning his refusal to remove posts denying the Holocaust and calling on Facebook to change its content policy, Axios reported Friday.

In the letter, Packer put pressure on Zuckerberg to meet his “ethical obligation” and not allow “further destruction” of history.

Packer further invited Zuckerberg to join the Commission on a trip to countries in which the Holocaust occurred in order to “educate” him about the importance of preserving history.

Axios reached out to Packer, who confirmed he has had multiple discussions with Facebook on the issue. Packer met with senior Facebook executive Joel Kaplan last week in Washington, D.C. to raise his concerns. Multiple Facebook executives were dialed into the meeting via video conference.

Axios noted in its report that Facebook took Packer’s concerns seriously enough to dispatch one of its highest-ranking policy executives to meet with them.

Packer told Axios that the Commission “very much appreciates Facebook’s willingness to discuss the matter, however, the use of Facebook as a platform for Holocaust denial in the greatest country in the world should never be accepted and cannot be tolerated.”

“Twenty years from now, when the next generation searches for Holocaust, there will be no survivors to tell their stories. The idea that Facebook would allow people to rewrite history is unacceptable,” he added.

Kaplan told Axios that the company “appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from Paul Packer … and to express our agreement with Mr. Packer that Holocaust denial is abhorrent and offensive. … We do not let people celebrate, defend, or attempt to justify the Holocaust, nor do we permit content that mocks Holocaust victims, accuses victims of lying about the atrocities, spews hate or advocates for violence.”

However, Facebook does not “remove content simply for being factually inaccurate, whether it’s about the Holocaust, any other world event or anything else,” he underscored.

Zuckerberg faced intense criticism earlier this month after telling Recode‘s Kara Swisher that Facebook would not remove posts denying that the Holocaust took place because it’s hard to determine when users intentionally get the facts wrong.

After being heavily criticized for his remarks, Zuckerberg tried clarifying his comments in an email to Swisher. “I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that,” he wrote.

Packer says that Zuckerberg’s follow-up statement was not enough and that Facebook needs to do more to ensure Holocaust denial is removed from the social media platform.

FacebookHolocaust denialZuckerberg