Mark Zuckerberg has been caught out in a very bizarre faux pas, having to walk back comments earlier today that suggested he welcomed Holocaust deniers onto Facebook.
The comments came during a 90-minute interview with tech website Recode, where they discussed the social media platform’s reluctance to ban known fake news proliferators InfoWars.
During the interview, which is well worth a read, The Great Zucc said (giving context that he is Jewish himself):
I don’t believe that our platform should take [Holocaust deniers] down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong, but I think it’s hard to impugn intent and to understand the intent.
Which lead to many people online noticing that automatically assuming Holocaust deniers have the best intentions in mind is, well, a bad take, to say the least.
holy shit mark zuckerberg defends holocaust deniers bc they are not intentionally misleading people…? pic.twitter.com/kfQpp0m3Sa
— cale g weissman (@caleweissman) July 18, 2018
Holocaust deniers are malicious, violent, and mean exactly what they say. They deny the genocide of six million Jews and others, including five of my family members.
For Mark Zuckerberg, one of the most powerful men in the world, to cut them slack is despicable.
— marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) July 18, 2018
A few words about holocaust denialism.
I'm a moderator on one of the non-toxic parts Reddit (r/AskHistorians). We've dealt with holocaust deniers for a while and find that the best policy is to shut that shit down.
Here's a short thread on what I've seen/dealt with. https://t.co/UR6wUPqmvy
— Andrés Pertierra (@ASPertierra) July 18, 2018
In an email send to Recode, he said that he wanted to “clear up” the issue. Zuckerberg said, “I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that.”
Nevertheless, his comments (and his follow-up denial) has done nothing to quell the wider debate about what role the world’s biggest social media platform should have in the fight against hate speech.
More than likely, this won’t be the last we hear about this issue. Meanwhile, his denial reminded me of on glorious, eternal tweet.
issuing correction on a previous post of mine, regarding the terror group ISIL. you do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to them"
— wint (@dril) February 15, 2017