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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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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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