Examples of Antisemitism on Social Media

Click here to download this resource

 

Date:   March 8, 2022

RE:       Examples of Antisemitism on Social Media


Background:

There are many and varied examples of antisemitism found on all social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Clubhouse. These posts range from overt, grotesque examples to those that are more subtle and insidious. Social media is used by almost every Canadian. Approximately 95 % of Canadians use at least one platform, and platforms such as TikTok, and YouTube have a high rate of usage among Canadians 18 years old or younger.

Antisemitism on social media takes on many manifestations, including, to name only a few, Holocaust denial and distortion, Jewish conspiracy theories, blood libel, and erasure and delegitimization of Israel.

In 2021, CIJA launched the Not on My Feed campaign, to combat online antisemitism and hate. Watch a video presenting antisemitism that comes up within an hour of scrolling on TikTok here


Recent incidents inciting antisemitism on social media include:

 

Antisemitism online can manifest into real world violence:

Research shows that there is often a correlation between online and real-world hatred and violence.

As detailed by the Network Research Contagion Institute at Rutgers University, there was a significant uptick in online rhetoric calling for the freeing of “Lady Al Qaeda” just before the Texas synagogue hostage crisis. This was also accompanied by antisemitic rhetoric.

In Pittsburgh in 2018, prior to opening fire and murdering 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue, the terrorist had posted an antisemitic conspiracy on the dark-web social media site “Gab.”