Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that he doesn’t believe in banning holocaust deniers despite finding them deeply offensive. It is interesting that Facebook is doing a crackdown on fake news and making efforts to take down the false news from its network.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Opinion on Holocaust Deniers
In an interview with Recode editor Kara Swisher, responding to a question on what kind of content should be allowed on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg talked about why he believes that Holocaust Deniers should have a place on the network.
He said, “I am Jewish and there are a set of people who deny that holocaust happened.” By talking on why he didn’t consider to ban the content by holocaust deniers, the Facebook founder said, “I don’t believe that our platform should take that down, because, I think there are things that different people get wrong”.
He further remarked that such people just get the facts wrong and they might not intend to do something wrong, as he said, “it is hard to impugn intent and to understand the intent”.
So, we can say that Mark Zuckerberg wants to allow Holocaust deniers to share the content on Facebook as they might not be intending to be offensive but just getting their facts wrong.
How Controversial Is Mark Zuckerberg’s Belief?
Considering the fact that social media is a hotbed of fake news, Facebook is taking steps to combat the menace and making attempts to stop the spread of fake information through its platform.
Interestingly, Facebook is discouraging the spread of fake news and images regarding the religious genocide of the Rohingya community in Burma. He also explained in his interview if the false content was shared with an intent to spread violence then it was to be banned and discouraged.
Well, there is something controversial in Mark Zuckerberg’s statement and it is what is more important? Someone’s good intentions or stopping the spread of information which is wrong, and the only handful of people don’t believe it. Because, if it is all about the good intent then those who share the pictures of religious genocide in modern days, might not be doing it intentionally. They might be getting their facts wrong.
A Debate That Goes Far
On the other side, Mark Zuckerberg’s stance on why he considers it is good to allow space to holocaust deniers on Facebook goes far the debate of freedom of speech comes with the right to offend. While people can have different opinions on this matter, one thing is clear that hate speech, anything that hurts someone’s sentiments and provocative content that incites the violence must not be allowed on social media platforms.
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