Today, the Armenian Assembly of America announced the launch of an online campaign to urge Facebook to follow its important precedent in the removal of Holocaust denial material from its platform and take similar steps to safeguard the historical truth about all genocides. Supporters can take action by visiting the Armenian Assembly of America’s Advocacy Center.
“We applaud Facebook’s conscientious decision to remove Holocaust denial material from its platform,” said Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America.
“Genocide denial has long been understood to be a facet of hate speech. We urge Facebook to continue along this path and seriously consider taking additional precautions in avoiding the denial of all genocides. This is also a challenge to the tech community generally and to brands that are well-equipped to act responsibly given their reach and effect on society.”
The repetition of dangerous hate speech has been demonstrated to desensitize viewers and listeners to the risks posed by threats to human rights. This makes digital services providing platforms of communication across the globe even more vulnerable to misuse and manipulation, thus making it incumbent upon them to exercise high standards of integrity and dedication to providing truthful information while also respecting freedom of speech.
For the Armenian people, the threat of genocide remains a constant reality in the face of Turkey’s long-standing campaign of denial coupled with Turkey’s ongoing threats against the Armenian people, and Erdogan’s political and military support bolstering Azerbaijan’s September 27, 2020 attack against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, including the importation of jihadist mercenaries. The specter of another genocide remains all too real.
