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Meta Oversight Board Reverses Decision on Holocaust Denial Content
Social media applications, showing Twitter before it was changed to ‘X.’ Photo: Public Domain.
Meta’s Oversight Board reversed a company decision to allow Holocaust denial content on its platforms which include Facebook and Instagram just days ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, drawing praise from leading Jewish civil rights groups.
In a statement, Meta’s Oversight Board, an independent body created in 2020, said the “prohibition is consistent with Meta’s human right’s responsibilities” and that “it is important to understand Holocaust denial as an element of antisemitism, which is discriminatory in its consequences.”
The decision was precipitated by an antisemitic meme spread in 2020 featuring Squidward Tentacles — a recurring character in the SpongeBob Squarepants animated.
Titled, “Fun Facts About the Holocaust,” the meme spread conspiracies about the Holocaust, denying that 6 million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany and that Jews were burned at Auschwitz. Despite being the subject of several complaints and being reviewed by, in the company’s words, “two human reviewers,” Meta initially ruled that the meme did not violate its content policies — often referred to as “community standards” — on hate speech and transferred the matter to the Oversight Board.
“The Board finds that this content violates Meta’s Hate Speech Community Standard, which prohibits Holocaust denial on Facebook and Instagram,” the company said on Tuesday. “Experts consulted by the Board confirmed that all the post’s claims about the Holocaust were either blatantly untrue or misrepresented historical facts. Additionally, the board is concerned that Meta did not remove this content even after the company changed its policies to explicitly prohibit Holocaust denial, despite human and automated reviews.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), a Jewish human rights organization, praised the decision.
Commenting to The Algemeiner about Meta’s announcement on Wednesday, SWC’s Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Rabbi Abraham said it was “better late than never,” explaining that he and SCW founder Rabbi Marvin Heir had stressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in private conversations why the “Squidward” meme and all Holocaust denial content is distressing and offensive to the Jewish community.
“It took tremendous pressure and years to get them to do this,” Abraham said. “We welcome the announcement on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, and we hope that they are taking the necessary steps to make sure that hate groups and terrorists do not take advantage of their technology.”
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a nonprofit that has litigated numerous civil rights complaints and fought to eradicate antisemitism from public life, applauded Meta’s decision, citing its own counsel to Meta on the matter during a public comment period.
“We commend Meta’s Oversight Board for recognizing the inexorable logic that using anti-Semitic [sic] conspiracy theories to attempt to falsely deny mass atrocities conclusively proven in court and admitted by the perpetrators is anti-Semitic, and consequently falls within Meta’s hat speech policy,” the group said.
Meta’s platforms have been plagued with antisemitic content over the past three years, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic and Israel’s 2021 war with Hamas.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Meta Oversight Board Reverses Decision on Holocaust Denial Content first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.