An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, refuse to remove and prohibit Holocaust denial from Facebook and Facebook-owned platforms, such as Instagram. Recently, the Conference of Material Claims Against Germany, commonly known as the Claims Conference, launched their #NoDenyingIt campaign in which each day, they post a video of a different survivor pleading with Zuckerberg to remove Holocaust denial. The following open letter to Zuckerberg is my part in speaking out against the presence of Holocaust denial on Facebook and affiliated platforms.

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

I have a simple request from you. Please remove and ban Holocaust denial from Facebook and Facebook-owned platforms.

Denial has zero constructive purpose. I believe in freedom of speech, but as Simon Wiesenthal, the famous Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter once put it, “freedom of speech is not freedom to propagate hatred.” Yes, Holocaust denial is hatred. It is pure antisemitism, plain and simple. By keeping denial on your platforms, you have a direct hand in promoting antisemitism. Not only that, but you are calling survivors liars, which is an ultimate disgrace.

Zuckerberg, as you are Jewish, I am sure that I do not need to prove to you that the Holocaust happened. I am sure you know the basic facts. Do I need to remind you that six million Jews and millions of other victims were murdered? I promise, my great-grandparents, great-uncle, and numerous other relatives did not just disappear off the face of the earth.

Two of my grandparents were Holocaust survivors and I will shortly be completing my MA in Holocaust Studies. However, these credentials are unnecessary to understand that denial has no place on Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter. The only credentials one needs to understand this is a brain and a heart, which unfortunately you may be lacking.

I look forward to the day when Holocaust denial is no longer a force in this world.

Ricki Birnbaum