Zuckerberg wants to allow Holocaust deniers on Facebook

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Mark Zuckerberg has once again found himself at the centre of a row, after saying posts from Holocaust deniers should be allowed on Facebook.

In an interview with technology website Recode, Mr Zuckerberg said that he did not believe such people should be removed from the site.

They were not, he said, "intentionally" getting their facts wrong.

The comments caused a backlash and Mr Zuckerberg later issued a clarification.

The original comments, given in a wide-ranging interview with Recode, were made in response to questions about what Facebook was doing to combat fake news and sites, such as InfoWars, that promoted conspiracy theories.

In Myanmar, also known as Burma, Facebook has been accused by UN investigators of facilitating violence against Rohingya Muslims by allowing anti-Muslim hate speech and fake news.

The social network has now said that it will begin removing misinformation that could lead to people being physically harmed.

When asked about its policy on fake news, Mr Zuckerberg offered, without prompting, the example of Holocaust deniers.

"I'm Jewish and there's a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened," he told reporter Kara Swisher.

"I find it deeply offensive. But at the end of the day, I don't believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don't think that they're intentionally getting it wrong.

"Everyone gets things wrong and if we were taking down people's accounts when they got a few things wrong, then that would be a hard world for giving people a voice and saying that you care about that."

After the comments drew fire from many, Mr Zuckerberg issued a clarification.

"I enjoyed our conversation yesterday," he said in an email to the reporter, published on the Recode site.

"But there's one thing I want to clear up. I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive and I absolutely didn't intend to defend the intent of people who deny that."

Facebook has faced criticism over the way the platform can amplify false reports and has been engaged in an advertising campaign both on- and offline declaring: "Fake new is not your friend."

But it has faced questions about why it continues to allow sites such as InfoWars - which has called the Sandy Hook massacre a hoax - to remain on the platform.

This doesn't improve my opinion of Zuckerberg any. He wasn't in any hurry to investigate Russian sock puppets manipulating political opinions, either.

Of course they should be allowed on Facebook, there is such thing as keeping your opinions to yourself. No one is going to know that about you unless you express it. This is what I always say about people regarding their political beliefs or if they support Trump, no one is going to know if you don't say it. The same applies to Holocaust deniers. What if someone thought all the unwanted kids in the world should be euthanized, keep that to yourself. There are opinions out there I believe should be kept to themselves or there are consequences.

Did you mean to say "of course they should NOT be allowed on Facebook"?

Or did you mean that first sentence the way you typed it?

If the latter then I am confused by your post, because in the rest of the paragraph you argue the opposite.

People with ridiculous beliefs should be free to express them and we should be free to ridicule them.

Seconded. Making fun of Holocaust deniers is pretty easy.

Holocaust Denier: Well of course the History books say that the Holocaust happened! History is written by the victors!
Me: I know what you mean. History is written by the victors! That's why the "savage Indian" stereotype was common in the media for so long.
Holocaust Denier: American Indians are savage! We kicked their asses fair and square!
Me: Of course you would say that! History is written by the victors. *smug look*

In all seriousness, history is not always written by the victors. That's a sweeping generalization which does not always hold true.