By Andre Oboler
Social media has become far more toxic over the last year. More people I speak to are turning away from it entirely. For the Jewish community, the level of antisemitism online is a huge factor is their disgust at social media in 2026. While antisemitism of all kinds, including online, is at record levels, this isn’t the whole story. While some communities, and particularly the Jewish community, are facing the problem more intensely than others, at least part of the problem impacts everyone. So what’s going on?
I’ll start with a post I just saw, posted 9 hours ago in the United States. The post, shown below, is from Stop Antisemitism which describes itself as a “Leading non partisan U.S. based org fighting antisemitism”. To be clear, they are legitimate, do good work, and this is not really about their post. The post itself is about an 18 year old woman who was charged by the FBI with plotting to kill Jews. The fact there are people, even young people, plotting to kill people based on their ethnicity / religion is disturbing. This are article is not really about that either. It is about the response to the post.
Even on a post like this, 187 expresses laughing emojis in response, as if killing Jews is their entertainment.
One comment from Texas said, “Free that girl, she just wants to make this world a better place.” It received 108 likes and 16 loves, with 37 angry responses.
The comment was not alone, another from Florida wrote: “FREE HER!!!! She is trying to make the world a better place for all!” and received 24 likes and 6 loves, 18 angry responses.
A user from Oregon writes, “Free her. She didnt do anything wrong”. This one received mostly angry responses (9) and a few likes (6).
A user from New York writes: “There is no antisemitism”.
A user from Texas wrote “Dirty Jews” with duplicate letters presumably to prevent it being automatically identified.
An Australian artist wrote: “Mossad asset?”
A user with a fake account with 8 friends writes “The only problem I had with Brenton Tarrant was that he shot up a mosque. If he shot up a synagogue, that would be the root of the problem as opposed to a symptom”.
A pro-Iran account from Bangladesh writes “Good job” followed by an emoji used by neo-Nazis to represent the Nazi salute, a German flag and a skull.
A user from South Carolina write: “Those who believe this is legit and wasn’t staged to add to the FAKE narrative of ‘anti-semitism’ are a major part of the real problem”.
A user from Iowa writes, “And there is no such thing as antisemitism, it is a made up position that is implemented by a group of people who are intent on controlling the narrative”
A recently created fake account with two friends contributes: “Only Jews would have a problem with this”
A user from Arkansas writes: “We applaud her for her heroic thinking” adding a heart.
Another user from Australia writes “So the elites can get away with satanic sacrifice of children I guess there really is two separate laws for people.”
A fake profile with 16 friends adds “In 5 more years, everyone is gonna want to eliminate these people….all problems lead to their breeds blood.”
A user from Washington state writes “Target Zionist”.
A user from California writes: “Zionism is a cancer to all humanity!!”
Another fake profile with 15 friends writes, “The entire World is awakening to the ABSOLUTE HORRORS of The Juice.”
A newly created profile claiming to be from Germany and with the last name Himmler (the same as the Nazi leader who headed the SS) writes: “Im with you lets build a big concentration camp”
A user with a locked profile writes: “looks like more state manufactured crime to push a narrative, remember that this is the same people that killed charlie kirk”
A user from Texas writes, “I would have joined her” with emojis saying strength, and giving the finger to Israel.
A user from New Jersey whose profile is filled with “anti-Israel” content, much of it antisemitic, writes, “Zionists use claims of Antisemitism and false Flag attacks to suppress concern or support for the people they attack or suppress #NobodyBelievesZionistsAnymore” with a link to a YouTube video.
It was not possible to review all the comments. Many asked for her GoFundMe page to support her.
The posts highlights how even obvious cases of antisemitism are dismissed, glorified, or supported.
It also highlights how, by not removing these comments, particularly those from fake accounts, social media is contributing to the antisemitic environment.