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Holocaust survivors around the world are lending their voices to a campaign launched Wednesday targeting Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to take action to remove denial of the Nazi genocide from the social media site.

Coordinated by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the聽#NoDenyingIt聽campaign uses Facebook itself to make the survivors鈥� entreaties to Mr. Zuckerberg heard,聽posting one video per day聽urging him to remove Holocaust-denying groups, pages, and posts as hate speech. Videos will also be posted on Facebook-owned Instagram, as well as Twitter.

Mr.聽Zuckerberg raised the ire of the Claims Conference and others with聽comments in 2018聽to the tech website Recode that posts denying the Nazi annihilation of 6 million Jews would not necessarily be removed. He said he did not think Holocaust deniers were 鈥渋ntentionally鈥� getting it wrong, and that as long as posts were not calling for harm or violence, even offensive content should be protected.

After an outcry, Mr.聽Zuckerberg, who is Jewish himself, clarified that while he personally found 鈥淗olocaust denial deeply offensive鈥� he believed that 鈥渢he best way to fight offensive bad speech is with good speech.鈥�

Since then, Facebook representatives have met with the Claims Conference but the group, which negotiates compensation payments from Germany for Holocaust victims, says Mr.聽Zuckerberg himself has refused to. The goal of the campaign is to get him to sit down with Holocaust survivors so that they can personally tell him their stories and make their case that denial violates Facebook鈥檚 hate speech standards and should be removed.

鈥淚n Germany or in Austria people go to prison if they deny the Holocaust because they know it鈥檚 a lie, it鈥檚 libel,鈥� said Eva Schloss, an Auschwitz survivor who today lives in London and has recorded聽a message for Mr. Zuckerberg.

鈥淗ow can somebody really doubt it? Where are the 6 million people? There are tens of thousands of photos taken by the Nazis themselves. They were proud of what they were doing. They don鈥檛 deny it, they know they did it.鈥�

Ms. Schloss鈥� family escaped before the war from Vienna to the Netherlands, where she became friends with Anne Frank, who lived nearby in Amsterdam and was the same age. After the German army overran the country, the Schloss and Frank families went into hiding but were discovered by the Nazis separately in 1944, the Schloss family betrayed by a Dutch woman.

Ms. Schloss and her mother survived Auschwitz, but her father and brother were killed, while Otto Frank, Anne鈥檚 father, was the only survivor of his immediate family and married Ms. Schloss鈥� mother after the war. Otto Frank published his daughter鈥檚 now-famous diary so that the world could hear her story. Ms. Schloss has written about her own story, is a frequent speaker, and would like to tell Mr. Zuckerberg of her own experience.

鈥淚t was just every day, the chimneys were smoking, the smell of burning flesh,鈥� she told The Associated Press, adding that she had been separated from her mother and assumed she had been gassed.

鈥淐an you imagine that feeling? I was 15 years old and I felt alone in the world and it was terrible.鈥�

Facebook said in a statement that it takes down Holocaust denial posts in countries where it is illegal, like Germany, France, and Poland, while in countries where it is not an offense, like the United States and Britain, it is carefully monitored to determine whether it crosses the line into what is allowed.

鈥淲e take down any post that celebrates, defends, or attempts to justify the Holocaust,鈥� Facebook told the AP. 鈥淭he same goes for any content that mocks Holocaust victims, accuses victims of lying about the atrocities, spews hate, or advocates for violence against Jewish people in any way. Posts and articles that deny the Holocaust often violate one or more of these standards and are removed from Facebook.鈥�

Earlier this month, a two-year聽audit of Facebook鈥檚 civil rights record聽found 鈥渟erious setbacks鈥� that have marred the social network鈥檚 progress on matters such as hate speech, misinformation, and bias. Mr.聽Zuckerberg is one of four CEOs of big tech firms who face a聽grilling by the U.S. Congress聽on Wednesday over the way they dominate the market.

More than 500 companies on July 1 began an聽advertising boycott聽intended to pressure Facebook into taking a stronger stand against hate speech. The Claims Conference decided to launch its own campaign after concluding the boycott 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 seem to be making a dent,鈥� said Greg Schneider, the Claims Conference鈥檚 executive vice president.

Several Holocaust denial groups have been聽identified on Facebook聽by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, some hidden and most private.

On one, 鈥淩eal World War 2 History,鈥� administrators are clearly aware of the fine line between what is and isn't allowed, listing among its rules that members must 鈥渁void posts that feature grotesque cartoons that FB censors can construe as racist or hateful.鈥�

Another page, the 鈥淐ommittee for Open Debate on the Holocaust,鈥� features regular posts of revisionist videos, including one from February in which the commentator says the Zyklon B gas used to kill Jews in Nazi death camps was actually employed to kill the lice that spread typhus, claiming 鈥渢his chemical was used to improve the inmates鈥� health and reduce, not increase, camp mortality.鈥�

Though not overtly advocating attacks, such postings are meant to 鈥減erpetuate a myth, anti-Semitic tropes that somehow Jews made this up in order to gain sympathy or political advantage鈥� and could easily incite violence, Mr.聽Schneider said.

鈥淭he United Nations has acknowledged that Holocaust denial is a form of anti-Semitism, and of course anti-Semitism is hate speech,鈥� he said.

For Charlotte Knobloch, a prominent German Jewish leader who survived the Holocaust in hiding as a young girl and is participating in the campaign, it is particularly important for social media platforms to be vigilant about preventing denial because many in younger generations rely on them for information.

鈥淭hey have a particular responsibility,鈥� the survivor told the AP.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

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