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Holocaust-denial Groups on Facebook

May 13, 2009
CNN reports that the popular social networking website Facebook has found itself in the middle of a controversy about free speech. Since last year, Brian Cuban, a Texas lawyer, has been campaigning to get Facebook to remove Holocaust denial groups that have been using the website to organize. According to Cuban, Facebook has removed groups at the request of users before. He argues, "There is no First Amendment right to free speech in the private realm...This isn't a freedom-of-speech issue. Facebook is free to set the standard that they wish." Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt agrees that the groups are objectionable, however, he says, "Just being offensive or objectionable doesn't get it taken off Facebook." According to the CNN report, "Schnitt said Facebook has drawn the line with pages or groups that attack an individual or incite or threaten violence."

Read the article "Facebook Urged to Remove Holocaust-denial Groups"



Discussion Questions: 
  • If you were writing Facebook's speech policy, what would it be? Would you remove groups that promoted hate?
  • According to Schnitt, Facebook has removed groups that incite or threaten violence. What do you think of that standard? What it the line between Holocaust denial and incitement of violence?
  • Genocide scholar Deborah Lipstadt argues that social networking sites are attractive to genocide deniers. Why do you think that is? What do these websites offer to deniers?
  • What does it mean for companies like Facebook and Youtube to be "socially responsible corporate citizens"? What ethical responsibilities do they have toward their users? To the community at large?
  • Who should be held accountable: users of these tools, or those that build, own and maintain them? Can and should the companies that build these networking tools be neutral?
Related Facing Today Resources: 
Bishop Accused of Holocaust Denial Rehabilitated
Antisemitism: The Power of Myth - Confronting Antisemitism
Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism: A Report Provided to the United States Congress
Related Facing History Resources: 
Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior
Elements of Time
Choosing to Participate Study Guide