With the advent of social media, there has been a rise in the number of fringe groups gaining a platform on world wide websites. These groups spew out hateful messages which are directed at ethnic and religious groups. On Facebook there are pages that deny the Holocaust and the authors refer to themselves as “historical revisionists.”
An article in The Guardian (U.K.) recently commented : http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/28/antisemitic-attack-bondi: “The Internet and social media have provided a new platform, if not a megaphone, for expressions of anti-Semitism which were hitherto confined to the extreme margins of society.”
As Elie Wiesel said, “The Holocaust did not begin in gas chambers; it began with words.”
Notwithstanding pleas from descendants of Holocaust survivors to remove said pages, Facebook presently has a policy of allowing Holocaust denial pages on its site under the guise of “freedom of speech.” The purpose of this article is to explain why the speech clause of the First Amendment is not applicable to Facebook or other social media sites.
The amendments to the U.S. Constitution apply only to state action or government conduct. Put differently, the U.S. Constitution only protects its citizens from government interference with their rights. Facebook is a private company with terms of service to which all of its members have agreed. Facebook already does ban certain forms of speech which would otherwise be allowed by the First Amendment. For instance, it does not allow pictures of nudity or graphic violence or comments that harass individuals. Facebook also prohibits comments that target ethnic and religious groups.
Holocaust denial is the allegation that the Jewish people have fabricated the Holocaust in order to pursue their own political and economic agenda. Accordingly, pages which deny the Holocaust target the Jewish people and are inherently anti-Semitic. Therefore, in keeping with its own terms of service, Facebook can and should ban Holocaust denial pages and groups from its site.
Furthermore, Facebook operates internationally; it has members across the globe. In Israel and many European countries, Holocaust denial is a felony. These European countries include Germany, Poland, Austria, and Romania. Notably, these are the countries where the Holocaust occurred.
Notwithstanding laws in these countries that criminalize Holocaust denial, people who live in these countries may still have access to Holocaust denial pages and groups on Facebook. Innovation in free and paid for VPN providers has resulted in many people, even where implemented only as a security measure, inadvertently or knowingly gaining access to material which would have previously been unavailable.
Therefore, in keeping with the majority of international opinion, where in many countries Holocaust denial is a crime, Facebook can and should ban Holocaust denial from its site. Such a ban would not be inconsistent with First Amendment rights in the United States and would be wholly consistent with hate speech bans that exist in much of Europe.
In light of all of the above, we ask that you sign our Care2 and Change.org petitions to Ban Holocaust Denial from Facebook as Hate Speech. You may sign both petitions. Your signature on one will not invalidate the other. One of the petitions does ask for your contact information. Rest assured that information will not be shared with the public. That information is only requested for petition site verification purposes.
Please click on these links to petitions and sign.
Care2 Petition – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/pertition-facebook-ban-holocaust-denial-pages-and-groups/
Change.org petition http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/mark-zuckerberg-founder-and-ceo-ban-all-holocaust-denial-pages-and-groupss.
Ms. Klein is a family law attorney in Los Angeles, California, and an activist in this cause.
www.LAFamilyLawAttorney.com
www.LACourtAppearances.com
www.avvo.com/attorneys/90012-ca-randi-klein-256819.html
By Randi Susan Klein, Esq.
