How real-world violence led Facebook to overturn its most controversial policy

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The biggest trend at platforms this month is changing your mind. Facebook belatedly banned QAnon. Twitter tapped the brakes on retweets. And on Monday, Facebook made one of the biggest policy reversals in its history, banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust.

Today, let’s talk about the company’s long journey to doing the right thing — and what other platforms might learn from Facebook’s experience.

First, the news. Here’s Sheera Frenkel in The New York Times, featuring a quote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

In announcing the change, Facebook cited a recent survey that found that nearly a quarter of American adults ages 18 to 39 said they believed the Holocaust either was a myth or was exaggerated, or they weren’t sure whether it...

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