The UN General Assembly on Thursday agreed on a definition of denial of the Holocaust and urged social media companies "to take active measures" to combat antisemitism.

"The General Assembly is sending a strong and unambiguous message against the denial or the distortion of these historical facts," said Germany's UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse. "Ignoring historical facts increases the risk that they will be repeated."

While the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution - drafted by Israel and Germany - without a vote, Iran disassociated itself from the text over Israel's "occupation of Palestine and parts of Syria and Lebanon."

Israel's UN mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran's statement.

The General Assembly resolution spelled out that distortion and denial of the Holocaust refers to Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the Holocaust, gross minimization of the number of the victims in contradiction to reliable sources and attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide.

The resolution also said statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event constitute denial, and "urges member states and social media companies to take active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial or distortion by means of information and communications technologies and to facilitate reporting of such content."

With reporting by Reuters