Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register July 14 (Reuters) – About half of public Holocaust-related content on the Telegram messaging service denies or distorts facts about the killing of Europe’s six million Jews in the Holocaust, according to a new study by the United Nations cultural agency. The UNESCO report found that 80% of German-language public messages about the Nazi genocide during World War II denied or distorted facts, and the same was true for 50% of English- and French-language posts about with the Holocaust. The research analyzed 4,000 Holocaust-related posts on five leading social media platforms and found denial or distortion in 19% of content on Twitter ( TWTR.N ), 17% on TikTok, 8% on Facebook and 3% on Instagram. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The report defined distortion as posts that celebrated the genocide, smeared or blamed its victims, equated it with other events such as Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians, or omitted facts about Nazi perpetrators and their collaborators. Asked about the report, a Telegram spokesperson said: “Telegram is a platform for free speech where people are welcome to peacefully express their views, including those we disagree with.” The spokesperson said posts that glorified or encouraged violence or its perpetrators were banned and removed through moderation or user reports. Dubai-based Telegram, launched in 2013, operates in 155 countries, according to technology website Backlinko. Other social media companies cited in the report did not respond to requests for comment. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement: “We must never forget how easily hate speech can turn into a hate crime, how ignorance or indifference can lead to intolerance, or how silence in the face of bigotry is complicity.” . “Today, the cracks are impossible to ignore,” Guterres said. He said the findings showed close links between Holocaust denial and other online violence rooted in racism, misogyny and xenophobia. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms ( META.O ) owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, while TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance. Twitter is facing a potential takeover by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. read more UNESCO found that even on moderate platforms, deniers and distorters evaded censors by using humorous and parodic memes to normalize anti-Semitic ideas. It recommended that governments invest in developing public education in media and platforms to take action against such content and redirect to verified information. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Sarah Morland. Editing by Howard Goller Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
