Holocaust denial content banned by Facebook following longstanding criticism

The restrictions are being imposed due to a well-documented rise in anti-Semitism globally and the alarming level of ignorance about the Holocaust, especially among young people, Bickert explained.

She also referred to a recent survey which revealed that more than 20 percent of Americans aged between 18 and 39 thought that the Holocaust was a myth or exaggerated, while one in 10 admitted they never even heard of the killing of millions of Jews by the Nazis.

Facebook users searching for terms related to the Holocaust or its denial will instead be directed to credible information on the issue on the platform, starting from later this year, Bickert added.

Mark Zuckerberg wrote in another post that he had personally struggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust.

Facebooks founder and CEO said that his own views on the issue had evolved, and he expressed confidence that the company has now achieved the right balance between the two.

Facebook has long faced criticism and demands from Holocaust survivors and various Jewish groups to take this kind of content down. The tech giant was also targeted by the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, which saw numerous companies pledging to suspend ads on Facebook-owned platforms over the companys reluctance to tackle hate speech and misinformation.

Last week, it blacklisted pro-Donald Trump conspiracy community, QAnon, due to its accounts containing discussions of potential violence.