A major new report prepared for the Global Forum to Combat Antisemitism, “Measuring the Hate: The State of Antisemitism in Social Media”, highlights that not enough is being done to combat antisemitism in social media. The report, based on tracking over 2,000 items of antisemitism over the last 10 months, found that only 20% of the items were removed.
Traditional antisemitism made up almost half the sample and covered content such as conspiracy theories, racial slurs, and accusations such as the blood libel. The report also outlines where each type of antisemitism occurs, with content promoting violence against Jews far more likely to be found on Twitter (63% on Twitter, 23% on YouTube and 14% on Facebook), while content promoting Holocaust denial was more likely to be found on YouTube (44% YouTube, 38% Twitter, 18% Facebook).
The report highlights significant variations in the responses of the social media companies to online antisemitism. More significantly, the response by each company was found to vary depending on the nature of the antisemitism.
The best response rates came from Facebook where content promoting violence against Jews has a 75% chance of eventually being removed. The worst case was YouTube videos containing New Antisemitism, that is antisemitism related to the State of Israel, where only 4% has been removed after more than 10 months.
Related content:
- Download the full report: Measuring the Hate: The State of Antisemitism in Social Media (via National Library of Australia)
- Download the Executive Summary
- Press Release: OHPI releases report on the state of antisemitism on social media
- Press Release: State of Holocaust Denial on Social Media
- Joint press release on closer cooperation to tackle antisemitism on YouTube in 2016 from They Can’t and OHPI
- The Australian discusses OHPI’s report on antisemitism.
- The reports release has been shared by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
- The report has been added to the Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism (CFCA)
- The report has been shared by the European Forum on Antisemitism
- Nuovo importante studio sull’antisemitismo online di Andre Oboler”, osservatorioantisemitismo, January 26 2016
- “Social media sites allow 80% of antisemitic content to be posted”, Elder Of Ziyon, January 27, 2016
- “Study: Vast Majority of Antisemitic Material Remains on Social Media Even After User Complaints“, Algemeiner.com, 28 January 2016
- “Online hate analysed“, J-Wire, January 29, 2016
- How Prevalent is Anti-Semitism on Social Media? (Report), Social Media Times, February 2, 2016
- Social Media Simply Not Doing Enough to Remove Anti-Semitism, AntiSemitism Watch, February 3, 2016
- Joint Press Release on Holocaust Memorial Day, International Press Association.
- Report on Antisemitism on Social Media, Jewish.Org.Pl.
- Global Forum on Antisemitism distributes report on social media hate, European Jewish Congress, Feb 4, 2015.
- Measuring the Hate discussed in The American Genius
- The announcement of this report’s release and of Holocaust Memorial Day led to an outpouring of antisemitic responses. A few are presented and discussed in this briefing.
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