‘6 million’: US network CNBC’s post trivializes the Holocaust

A short post published by business news network CNBC on X on Friday night, containing only the English words “six million,” sparked a wave of angry responses and became fertile ground for hate speech and Holocaust denial.

The network intended to promote a business report that Saudi Arabia’s oil exports had surged in September to six million barrels a day. But the decision to publish the number alone as clickbait without context was viewed as gross negligence and a direct affront to the memory of Holocaust victims.

The post was quickly seized on by far-right and far-left activists, trolls and Holocaust deniers from both ends of the political spectrum, who recognized the number and flooded the discussion with mockery and conspiracy theories intended to cast doubt on the scale of the genocide of the Jewish people.

Alongside slurs and antisemitic language, many users posted taunts about the historical catastrophe and blatantly distorted the facts by claiming that the actual number was only around 271,000. Others suggested the number was a “code for something” that had yet to be revealed.

Many users sharply criticized the US network for its insensitivity and trivialization, arguing that it was obvious such a post would immediately attract hate propaganda. The incident reflects the current reality on social media, where almost any post that gains traction attracts waves of hatred and antisemitism. Users refused to accept the post as an innocent mistake, protesting: “There’s no way this is a coincidence, come on.”

The controversy is particularly striking given the nature of CNBC, which media-monitoring organizations classify as centrist or slightly left-leaning, but which has a distinctive identity because its coverage focuses primarily on corporations, financial markets and the economy.

The post, which had remained online overnight, was not deleted by the network until midday Saturday, Israel time.