Antisemitic hate speech rampant in social media

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This article was published 08/02/2025 (573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When a Jewish school is shot at in Canada, it makes the news. So does an arson attack on a synagogue, or graffiti spray painted on Jewish-owned buildings.

When those things happen, police, governments and the media all leap into action — as they should. Acts of hate against Jews, against Muslims, or against any group need to be called out and firmly addressed.

But almost nothing is done about another form of hate that comes directly into our homes on a regular basis: online hate. And that concerns Andre Oboler, CEO of Australia’s Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Oboler, who was in Winnipeg January 27-28 to speak about online antisemitism at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights for Holocaust Remembrance Day, calls the hate directed at Jews on social media “antisemitism 2.0.”

Prior to 2008, before social media existed, this form of online hate “did not exist because the platforms did not exist,” he said. “But it’s a different world today.”

Through the institute, Oboler tracks online hate directed at Jews and other groups. Since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, the Institute has seen a 400 per cent rise in antisemitism on social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and others.

The biggest increases are in the platforms dominated by the far right, he said. “But it is growing everywhere.”

Oboler, who is Jewish, praises the Australian government and police forces for actively addressing physical antisemitic attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools and individuals. This includes responding to attacks last week when a Jewish school and two other properties in Sydney were sprayed with antisemitic slurs, and foiling an attack involving explosives in that same city.

He knows those responses are needed to help allay the fears being felt by the 117,000 or so Jews in that country. “There is an antisemitic act somewhere in the country almost on a daily basis now,” he said.

But those same governments and police forces dedicate almost no time or effort to online antisemitism, he said — the very thing that makes the physical manifestations of antisemitism possible.

“Antisemitism online normalizes it,” he said of how it emboldens people to act out against Jews. “People become conditioned to accept it.”

While government official in Australia are responding by helping the Jewish community increase its physical security, they aren’t doing much about what is happening online. “Nothing is being done to address hate towards whole communities on social media,” Oboler stated.

The Australian Jewish community is also not taking the challenge of hate on social media seriously, he said; they are more focused on antisemitism in mainstream media.

While that’s important, Oboler said the mainstream media isn’t where many people get their news and information these days, especially younger people. “The impact of social media (on antisemitism) is not fully recognized by our community,” he said.

As for the social media platforms themselves, they talk a good game about restricting hate but aren’t much help since they use artificial intelligence to decide what is hateful and what isn’t.

“Many times it (AI) decides it isn’t hate speech when it’s clearly antisemitic,” he said, adding the only recourse at that point is try to connect with an human being to draw attention to the hateful posts — something that can be very hard to do, Oboler acknowledged.

What could make things worse is a decision by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, to end third-party fact checking on that platform to allow more free speech. This could make it harder to stop the spread of hate online.

For this reason, the Facebook ban on posting news from mainstream media outlets in Canada is “ridiculous,” Oboler said. “There’s no block on sharing disinformation and hate (on Facebook), but there’s a ban on professional journalism that can correct disinformation and counter hate,” he said.

Oboler praised Canada’s proposed Online Harms Act, which the Liberal government had introduced before Parliament was prorogued.

The legislation, which died in the House of Commons due to prorogation, sought to hold online platforms more accountable for harmful content and require them to create safety measures to protect users.

For Oboler, it is a model for Australia to follow — and he hopes it can be resurrected in the future in Canada.

In the meantime, Oboler suggests that individuals ask elected representatives to support efforts to track online hate, and to draw it to the attention of authorities when they see it. And, if they feel bold enough to do so, call it out to their social media friends when they see it shared online.

And maybe that’s finally all we can really do in this free-for-all social media environment — for Jews, for Muslims, for LGBTTQ+ people and for anyone else targeted by those who would spread hate. That, and draw attention to positive and uplifting portrayals of others, remembering the words of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament book of Philippians (with a slight revision): “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — share those things online.”

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John Longhurst
Faith columnist & reporter

John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.

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