The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), Australia’s leading organisation fighting anti-Semitism and hatred in all its forms, has called on Google Australia to change its search algorithm so as to ensure that the article “Top 10 reasons why the Holocaust didn’t happen” hosted on the white-Supremacist, Neo-Nazi website Stormfront, is not the first result that is returned when users search for “did the holocaust happen?” Currently, this post tops the search list for the question. A Google spokesperson has indicated that company will not change the search results.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, issued the following statement:
“Google Australia, part of Google, the world’s largest and most popular search engine, can’t shirk its moral responsibility by simply claiming that they are saddened by this result. By not taking decisive steps to fix this deplorable situation, Google Australia is facilitating the flourishing of Holocaust denial and a type of vicious Jewish hatred, part of an age-long campaign of evil falsehoods and incitement, that have led to the deaths of millions. Young people, who may be uninformed or unfamiliar with history’s darkest chapter, could, as a result of Stormfront’s article appearing so high in Google’s Australia search results, believe that because of this ranking, Stormfront is a legitimate, authoritative and credible source for research on the Holocaust. If they click on that result, they will be exposed to the most vile and bone-chilling anti-Semitic and racist material on the net. Therefore, we call on Google to change the ranking of this reprehensible and stomach-churning website, and other Holocaust denial sites that are dominating the top search results dealing with this question. The agents of this invidious and willful assault on the historical truth should not be allowed to hijack the world’s most popular search engine to preach hatred, to gain legitimacy for their sickening canards and to recruit new members to their racist cause. Nothing in life happens in a vacuum and Google’s lack of action is contributing to the spreading of these lies and and to the acceptability of Jewish vilification. We urge Google Australia to look at the Bing research engine, which presents Wikipedia as the number one result for the same question.”
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, founded in 1979, is Australia’s leading civil rights organization fighting racism through educational programs that combat bigotry, prejudice and all forms of hatred.
For further information please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on (03) 9272 5677.