Social media websites must do more to tackle antisemitism antisemitism and Holocaust denial on their platforms, the head of the Holocaust Educational Trust has said.

Karen Pollock, HET's chief executive, said sites like Facebook were much quicker to address issues like nudity than Shoah denial but said social media platforms "should take a bit more responsibility".

She told the Press Association:“For example, if somebody denies the Holocaust on Facebook, that is allowed to stay there. But if somebody posts a naked picture, it would be removed.

“When we are talking about the denial of the Holocaust, you have to question the motivation as to why somebody is denying it.

“And the root cause of denial is hatred of Jews – it is suggesting that Jews made it up, that it’s a conspiracy, that somehow it is to get sympathy.”

Ms Pollock was among those to condemn Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in July, when he said people who posted Shoah denial to the website were not "intentionally getting it wrong" and questioned whether the company should remove such content.

In an open letter to Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, the heads of 24 institutions warned the social media giant in August that it was allowing "complete and utter falsehoods" about the Holocaust to go "systematically unchecked".

A Facebook spokesperson said the company took Jew-hate "incredibly seriously".

She added: "We take down any post that celebrates, defends, or attempts to justify the Holocaust.

“The 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.

“As you can imagine, posts and articles that deny the Holocaust often violate one or more of these standards and are removed from Facebook.

“We also remove this content in countries where Holocaust denial is a criminal offence such as Germany, France and Poland.”