Under Musk's watch: a 1,000% surge in Anti-Semitic content on X platform

The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's murderous terrorist attack on cities and kibbutzim in Israel, has led to a rise in the prevalence of anti-Semitism across major social media platforms, including Twitter, which has become the most prominent breeding ground for hatred against Jews and Israel. According to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League, there has been a nearly 1,000% surge in the volume of anti-Semitic content published on Twitter in recent days.

The surge in anti-Semitic discourse on Twitter is particularly noteworthy in light of data published last week by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE). According to their findings, platforms with permissive content policies, such as 4chan and Gab, have experienced a significant but still moderate increase of over 200% in the volume of anti-Semitic content. However, this rise pales in comparison to the surge observed on Twitter.

Researchers and experts have identified a rise in the volume of anti-Semitic content online, accompanied by an increase in anti-Semitic attacks in the non-digital world, already in the days following the terror attack on October 7. The new data from the Anti-Defamation League is based on the computerized collection and analysis of posts published on Twitter and Facebook between September 30 and October 13 (a week before and after the terror attack). In total, the researchers analyzed 169,958 posts on Twitter and 15,476 posts on Facebook. To characterize the sentiment of the posts, they utilized the Online Hate Index, a tool developed by the league to identify anti-Semitic content on the internet.

According to the findings, on Facebook, there was a significant but not dramatic increase of 26% in the volume of anti-Semitic content in the week following the attack compared to the week before. On Twitter, however, a staggering surge of 919% was recorded. "There may have simply been a more moderate increase in anti-Semitic content on Facebook, but it's also possible that Facebook enforced its content policy more robustly, or that their content monitoring tools were more effective in removing such content," noted the report's authors. "Regarding Twitter, it's possible that platform users began posting more anti-Semitic content after the attack compared to Facebook users, but it is equally possible that this reflects an absence of effective content monitoring."

According to data provided by the research company Memetica to The New York Times, in the past month, Elon Musk's platform featured 46,000 posts with the hashtag #HitlerWasRight, compared to an average of less than 5,000 posts per month in previous months (an increase of 820%). Posts with the hashtags #DeathtotheJews or #DeathtoJews appeared 51,000 times in the last month, marking a surge of 2,450%.

Musk himself expressed support for a tweet with anti-Semitic undertones.Jewish communties have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them”, wrote the user "The Artist Formerly Known as Eric" on the backdrop of the rise in anti-Semitism in the United States and other countries worldwide. He added: “I'm deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much. You want truth said to your face, there it is”. In response, Musk endorsed the post, commenting: "You have said the actual truth."

The findings are not very surprising. The lack of genuine efforts from Twitter (X) to act against violating content, especially anti-Semitic or anti-Israeli content since the events of October 7, is already well-known to researchers and users. Earlier this week, the Center for Countering Digital Hate published test results in which asked Twitter to remove 200 anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim posts. It revealed that 98% of these contents were not removed. "Elon Musk has created a safe space for extremists," said the organization's founder and CEO, Imran Ahmed.

What is surprising, however, is the extent of the surge in anti-Semitism on Twitter, even when compared to fringe platforms that have a permissive content policy and lax enforcement, if any. According to the examination conducted by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) on platforms such as 4chan, Gab, Bitchute, and Odysee, the volume of anti-Semitic content on these platforms did increase significantly by over 217%. However, it remains noticeably lower compared to Twitter.

4chan is an extreme forum site considered a hotbed for radical movements like Anonymous and QAnon. According to GPAHE researchers, on October 6, the day before the attack, 484 anti-Semitic posts were published on the site. The day after the attack, the number rose to 2,626, marking a 443% increase. The daily average of anti-Semitic content posted on the site between October 11 and November 5 represents a 217% increase compared to October 6.

Gab is a platform similar to Twitter in its usage characteristics but is primarily associated with extreme right-wing users and is considered popular in the fight against anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiments. On October 8, a surge of 1,955% in the volume of anti-Semitic content was recorded compared to October 6, and the daily average between October 11 and November 5 represents an increase of 1,011% compared to the day before the attack. However, it's worth noting tha, the volume of content is relatively small - only 9 anti-Semitic posts were published on October 6.

On BitChute, a video-sharing site associated with the extreme right in the United States, the daily average of anti-Semitic posts represents a 67% increase compared to October 6 (when 70 anti-Semitic posts were published on the site). On Odysee, another video platform associated with the extreme right, there was an increase of 64% (compared to 25 anti-Semitic posts on October 6).