Online anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in Spain

Major internet content providers in Spain—including Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter—have permitted unlawful expressions of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial to proliferate across their platforms.

The Lawfare Project is currently pursuing legal action to compel these providers to immediately remove the illicit content. If they do not comply, we will take all necessary steps available under Spanish law—including litigation—to impose legal consequences on content providers and halt the dissemination of such content.

In October 2018, The Lawfare Project filed suit against Google on behalf of a Spanish Jew. The suit alleged that the search engine had failed to block virulently racist and defamatory material after a takedown notice was filed by The Lawfare Project’s Spanish counsel. In July 2019, The Lawfare Project achieved a significant breakthrough, ending the suit, when Google LLC reached an understanding with our lawyers in Spain to block defamatory content, including material promoting Nazi ideology and denying the Holocaust that is scornful with the victims.

In February 2020, The Lawfare Project filed a complaint against Microsoft Corporation in the Courts of Ibiza, Spain on behalf of two Jewish plaintiffs for offering Bing search results that link to a website with extremely inflammatory anti-Jewish content. Microsoft has failed to block access to the offensive, anti-Jewish, degrading, and unlawful search result, even after having received detailed information about the content in question. This complaint could result in a search engine being found liable for third-party content for the first time, not only in Spain, but in other EU and EEA countries with EU-harmonized legislation on the liability of internet service providers, intermediaries, and platforms.