Online Hate Prevention Institute Denounces Holocaust-Denying Facebook Account, Calls on Social Media Companies to be ‘Socially Responsible’
by Joshua Levitt
Australia’s Online Hate Prevention Institute denounced a Facebook account Tuesday for spreading “Holocaust inversion and also significant new antisemitism related to Israel.”
In a statement, Dr. Andre Oboler, CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Institute flagged “The Untold History” Facebook account, which is “liked” by 843 people, and features 428 comments, though many of them were made to ridicule the account and its creators.
“Social media is a powerful tool and that power should not be used to take content like this viral. Social media companies, that have such a major impact on our daily lives, need to behave in a socially responsible manner and to be held accountable when they fail to live up to the standards society expect,” Oboler said.
A briefing document published by the Institute instructs Facebook users on how to flag the account, alerting Facebook administrators to the offensive material and calling for the account to be blocked.
“The Untold History” Facebook account was created on March 20, 2013. It mainly features pictures and collages of Holocaust imagery with captions suggesting that the photos were staged, or have been misrepresented by Jewish interests.
Practitioners of Holocaust inversion, a theme which is prevalent on the page, attempt to falsely portray “Israel, Israelis, and Jews as Nazis,” according to Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.