Sadly, ugly antisemitism of the old-school variety never died out in some of these places, like the Arab world. Some governments in the Arab world provide a stamp of legitimacy for hateful antisemitic books of the absolute worst kind, including Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the Tsarist forgery “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” by offering those and similar books at the vast majority of state-run book fairs. In Russia in 2005, 20 members of the Duma (legislative assembly) accused the Jewish community of ritual murders of non-Jewish babies in a Medieval-style blood libel and demanded that the government ban all Jewish organizations in the country.
The Rise of Online Antisemitism
Sometime in the mid-2010s, antisemitism exploded on social media, as these networks assumed a more dominant position in our personal lives and drove the polarization of our current politics. In 2024, antisemitism in the United States is at its highest point on record. The American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) State of Antisemitism in America 2023 Report found that “antisemitism online and on social media continues to be the place where American Jews experience antisemitism the most,” with 62 percent of respondents seeing or hearing antisemitism online or on social media in the past 12 months.
There are many reasons for this phenomenon. Social media often grants anonymity to its users, perfect for “trolling.” The social network effect is ideal for the loosely organized but widespread white nationalist haters. And many of these attacks come from bots rather than human-controlled accounts.
There is another factor at work, too: Modern social networks are generally global, unlike early social networks with gatekeeping functions—like Facebook, which initially provided access only to those with university email addresses.
In effect, millions living in countries where antisemitic assumptions are the default and even taught in public education are now interacting with American and Western publics directly. Surveys by the AJC and Pew Research Center show that “negative attitudes toward Jews are the norm rather than the exception in many Muslim countries [with the] vast majority of people in Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan attesting to having a “very unfavorable view” of Jews.” This is the context for the rise of the “Malaysian Troll Army” in 2021 when hundreds of thousands of anti-Israel activists in Malaysia conducted a cyber-bullying and hacking campaign on behalf of Hamas.
After the Hamas massacre of over 1,200 innocents in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) detected a surging increase of up to 500 percent in the volume of online antisemitism. These have included death threats, like Cornell University student Patrick Dai’s threat to shoot Jews on campus, and sexually explicit messages used to harass Jewish social media users, especially women and girls.
What Social Media Corporations Must Do
One critical necessity for today’s social media ecosystem is real moderation, demanding algorithm transparency and enforcing swift removal of hate speech. A European Union report showed that hate speech is rising on social media platforms, even though their parent companies claim to be addressing it. Chinese-owned TikTok, in particular, has been a primary vector for the spread of antisemitic ideas and content.
Not only do companies lose advertisers when they fail to moderate, but they may face legal consequences: any company operating in the European Union is bound by the strict content moderation rules of its Digital Services Act. Social media companies should act now—or be pressured to enact changes necessary to protect the vulnerable in society, whom a reckless failure to moderate threatens.
1. Increased Investment in Moderation Technologies: Social media companies should be encouraged or required to invest in advanced content moderation technologies that can more effectively identify and remove antisemitic content. There will be an arms race against trolls and other bad actors, including hostile states, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and our social media infrastructure must get the basics right now. AI also poses emerging threats, such as “deepfake” videos and phone calls, with a fake call from ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt being reported late last year promoting the work of an antisemitic hate group.
2. Adopting a Standardized Definition of Antisemitism: Social media platforms should adopt and apply the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism as part of their content moderation policies. This is the gold-standard definition adopted by the U.S. State Department and most other major democracies.
3. Human Moderators with Cultural Competence: Alongside technological solutions, platforms need to employ trained human moderators to understand the nuances of antisemitism and other forms of hate speech.
4. Reporting Mechanisms: Social media platforms must ensure they have accessible and effective mechanisms for users to report antisemitic content and harassment. Victims should receive timely responses and support.
What Law and Government Must Do
Countering antisemitism online requires acting on multiple trajectories. Threats to minority groups like Jews are often a “canary in the coal mine” about broader instability in the political-social system. Governments must ensure that populations are protected and work with technology companies to ensure compliance.
1. Legislation to Define and Penalize Online Hate Speech: Governments should propose or strengthen laws targeting online hate speech, including antisemitism. These laws should clearly define what constitutes hate speech and provide guidelines for penalties. For antisemitism, these laws should reference the IHRA, with its explanatory examples clarifying that certain forms of anti-Israel speech qualify as modern forms of antisemitism.
It should be noted that different nations and jurisdictions will pursue this goal in different ways. In the United States, First Amendment jurisprudence protects most (not all) forms of speech, but hate speech may be treated as evidence of hateful intent in committing a crime. In many other democracies, including under European Union law, hate speech is criminalized, and its definitions must be made clear—including by incorporating the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
2. Mandatory Transparency Reports: Governments should require social media companies to publish regular transparency reports detailing incidents of hate speech on their platforms, actions taken, and the effectiveness of those actions.
3. Algorithmic Accountability: Governments should introduce regulations that require social media platforms to ensure their algorithms do not promote or amplify antisemitic content. Companies should be obligated to audit their algorithms regularly for biases and make the results public.
What Must Be Done by International Cooperation
Given the borderless nature of the internet, combatting online antisemitism requires international cooperation. In many countries, antisemitism is not only normalized but also presented as semi-official. In Saudi public schools, for example, students are taught that Jews “obey the devil” and are those whom “G-d has cursed and with whom He is so angry that He will never again be satisfied.”
And in a TV series produced by Syria and aired in recent years in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran, Jews aim to rule the world through a secret government led by the Rothschild family and are depicted making matzo with the blood of Muslim and Christian children.
What is required is the development of global frameworks and treaties aimed at addressing online hate speech, with specific provisions for antisemitism.
1. Global Cooperation Against Antisemitism and Hate: Given the entrenched antisemitism and other forms of hate speech in education, public media, and the arts in many countries, this must be a major international priority for the flagship democracies, with real political and financial consequences for nations that fail to comply.
2. Educational Programs: Civil society in all countries should be encouraged to develop educational initiatives focused on digital literacy, critical thinking, and the dangers of online hate speech. These programs should target all age groups, especially young people. Social media platforms should be encouraged to partner with Jewish organizations and other anti-hate groups to create educational content and strategies to combat antisemitism online.
3. Legal and Psychological Support Services: It has been established that online antisemitism directly increases real-world violence. Even where it does not, it can be shattering to those it impacts. Both states and private sectors should work to ensure the provision of legal and psychological support services for victims of online antisemitism.
Conclusion: Toward a Hate-Free Internet
Social media and the internet have become the global public square. Our democracy, markets, free expression, and even the foundations of our culture and interpersonal relationships now depend on its systems. It is unconscionable to say that the online world cannot be made safe for Jewish people or any other group; it is a step short of saying the world itself cannot be made safe for Jewish people.
The fight against antisemitism on social media is a complex challenge requiring concerted efforts from legal, corporate, and domestic and international civil spheres. By understanding the scope of the problem and implementing targeted strategies, it is possible to mitigate the spread of hate speech and its real-world consequences. The time to act is now; the well-being of our global community depends on it.
