Matthew Segal, the tech and media entrepreneur known as co-founder and CEO of ATTN:, a part of Candle Media, was appointed Friday by President Joe Biden to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council’s board of trustees, TheWrap can exclusively report.
Segal’s dedication in recent years — and particularly since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians — to combat online misinformation and the rise of antisemitism has been a foundation of his work and the work he will continue to do with the memorial council, he said.
According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, a recent survey found that denial and distortion rates among young people are at an all-time high.
“I’m honored to be appointed by President Biden to serve in this post. The promise to ‘never forget’ the horrors of the Holocaust is more urgent than ever in the age of online misinformation,” Segal said in a statement to TheWrap. “I look forward to leveraging my skills as a storyteller and advocate to ensure this promise remains steadfast for generations to come.”
In 2022, Segal produced two television specials on Holocaust remembrance for CBS and MTV and also partnered with TikTok to launch Holocaust education programming targeted at Gen Z.
He founded ATTN: in 2014 with Jarrett Moreno. The video-focused digital media company specializes in fun-yet-informative content on a range of subjects, from social issues and finance to politics and personal health. As Segal told TheWrap in December, the company’s through line over the last 10 years has been its “purpose-driven values” and “very social-impact and -driven DNA.” Segal added that his two key issues for 2025 are antisemitism and digital literacy.
“Since Oct. 7, but even well before, we’ve seen this precipitous rise in antisemitism, both in tropes and in speech online, and in sort of misinformation flowing with respect to Israel and the Jewish people,” he said.
Segal added, “[We’re] trying to think through how we take such an age-old societal disease and come up with new ways to help showcase it from the standpoint of how it actually manifests itself in today’s modern society.”
He described the challenge of distilling “deeply dense and historically long-form material” in a “more pithy way” with ATTN:, employing efforts from different creators, infographics and analogies.
“It’s something that we’ve tried to do with gravitas from people that are seen as centrist and credible and not contentious in who they are. The messengers matter there,” Segal explained.
Besides the Holocaust Memorial specials “The Hate We Can’t Forget” and “Undeniable: The Truth to Remember,” Segal also produced “With One Voice: Fighting Hatred Together” for MTV News in 2021.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Council was established by Congress in 1980: the Washington D.C. Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in 1993.
The council, which meets twice a year, consists of 55 members appointed by the president, as well as five members each from the Senate and House of Representatives and three ex-officio members from the Departments of Education, Interior and State. Presidential appointments serve for a five-year term; 11 members’ terms expire each year.
Current U.S. Senate appointees include Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen.
