On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Lantos Foundation and the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) call on Congress, particularly those Congressional leaders from the Bay Area, to take action to hold the San Francisco-based digital platform the Internet Archive accountable for its role in spreading antisemitic and racist hate online, as well as Holocaust denial — as Congress has done with other major tech companies. This move would be especially welcome following the adoption of a historic UN resolution condemning Holocaust denial and distortion and calling on countries to take action to combat it.

Lantos Foundation President Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett and Yigal Carmon, Founder and President of MEMRI, write in a new opinion piece, “On this day, as the world remembers the tragedy of the Holocaust, members of Congress, and especially those representing the Internet Archive’s home base in the Bay Area, must take up the important cause of holding this organization accountable for its content. This would certainly be a cause that would ignite both the fury and passion of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, were he still with us…We encourage the Bay Area Congressional delegation to follow Congressman Lantos’ example and show this kind of moral leadership: Ensure that the Internet Archive no longer escapes the scrutiny and accountability that have been applied to other tech companies. In a world that seems to careen ever closer to the edge of reality, we cannot allow the spread of Holocaust denial and online hate to go unchecked.”

Read the complete piece on Medium here.

The Lantos Foundation and MEMRI have written directly to Members of Congress, including the full California delegation and members of the House and Senate Task Forces on Combating Antisemitism, to urge them to take action to hold the Internet Archive accountable.