New Report Claims Major Social Media Companies Failed to Act on 84% of Reported Cases of Antisemitic Hate
3D-printed Facebook and Twitter logos are seen in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 26, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
An organization dedicated to documenting and fighting hate speech online found that major social media countries failed to act against antisemitism on their platforms in 84% of cases.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate’s report examined posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok, and reported them to the companies for action.
Posts that were flagged included such things as Holocaust denial, antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish political and financial power, and claims that Jews created the coronavirus pandemic and committed 9/11. Some also contained Nazi symbols and white supremacist material.
Altogether, 714 posts from May to June were reported, having been viewed more than 7.3 million times.
Of the companies examined, Facebook performed the worst, failing to act on 89% of posts, despite the company’s recently revised guidelines on hate speech.
Among all platforms, 89% of posts blaming Jews for the coronavirus, 9/11, and controlling the world were not acted upon.
80% of posts containing Holocaust denial, 74% spreading the blood libel, 70% of antisemitic caricatures, and 70% of neo-Nazi posts were also left untouched.
In addition, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter continued to allow hashtags such as “#killthejews” to remain on their platforms.
In total, the report found that no action was taken in 84% of reported cases.
“As a result of their failure to enforce their own rules, social media platforms like Facebook have become safe places to spread racism and propaganda against Jews,” the report asserted.
The CCDH recommended several actions, including the creation of financial incentives to properly moderate social media activity, training moderators in the correct action to take, removing antisemitic groups and hashtags, and banning accounts that directly harass Jewish users.