X, formerly known as Twitter, has taken action to remove a Holocaust denial post after facing criticism from the Auschwitz Museum. The social media company had initially asserted that the post did not violate its guidelines.
The offensive post emerged as a response to a message from the museum discussing the tragic death of a three-year-old Jewish girl in the gas chambers of the concentration camp. This now-removed post labeled her demise a “fairy tale” while employing anti-Semitic stereotypes.
X has policies in place that explicitly prohibit Holocaust denial.
The Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, situated in German-occupied Poland, witnessed the cruel murder of at least 1.1 million individuals, of whom nearly one million were Jews. Disturbingly, over 200,000 of the victims were children and young adults, subjected to heinous conditions including gassing, starvation, forced labor, and medical experimentation.
The Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau reported the offensive response to X, detailing their complaint. However, X’s initial response indicated that, based on the available information, no violations of rules were detected. This initial assessment was later deemed a mistake during the initial review process. Subsequently, the post was re-evaluated and removed in a subsequent review.
X’s policies categorize “violent event denial” as a form of abusive behavior and explicitly prohibit content that denies incidents of mass murder, encompassing events like the Holocaust, school shootings, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters.
While X has successfully removed the Holocaust denial post, the account responsible for the offensive content, with only 20 followers, remains accessible as of Monday at 17:00 GMT. The account’s other content contains statements and language that many would find objectionable.
X has confirmed that it is presently assessing whether the account in question should be permanently suspended as part of their response to the incident.
