ADL Condemns Fortnite and Call of Duty for Inadequate Stance on Holocaust Denial

The Anti-Defamation League's 2023 report on Holocaust denial reveals significant shortcomings among major gaming and social media companies in preventing and responding to users who deny the systematic murder of millions by Nazi Germany. While no company received a perfect score, some performed notably worse than others. Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, received a failing grade due to the absence of a clear policy on Holocaust denial, delayed response times exceeding 24 hours, and failure to act on user reports. The ADL, which had established a 'trusted partner' relationship with many of these companies to prioritize content moderation, found that Epic Games was the only company that did not take action on reported Holocaust denial content. Furthermore, eight out of ten companies failed to address Holocaust denial complaints submitted by regular users. The report also assessed Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, and Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends. Activision Blizzard received a D- grade, tying with Twitter, for having a general hate policy and taking action only on complaints made through the ADL's trusted partner channel. Riot Games earned a C- score, thanks to its prompt response to user complaints and provision of policy explanations for enforcement actions. Twitch and YouTube achieved the highest grades, with a C+, although this represented a decline from Twitch's B score in the ADL's 2021 report. The ADL urges all social media and gaming platforms to explicitly prohibit Holocaust denial, enforce policies swiftly and consistently, and prioritize user safety over engagement. The organization recommends simplifying the reporting process, consulting experts to review content moderation training materials, and increasing transparency through regular reports on moderation policies and decisions. According to ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt, 'Tech companies claim to be addressing hate on their platforms, but when it comes to Holocaust denial, they aren't. As a result, Holocaust deniers exploit this lax enforcement to spread their toxic, antisemitic ideas and gain support for their hateful views.'