Antisemitic Arabic posts on Holocaust overwhelmingly ignored by social media moderation
A pro-Palestinian protester wearing a piece of tape over his mouth that reads, “antisemite.”
A recent study conducted by the organization CyberWell found that, on average, only 9% of Arabic posts with Holocaust-related hate speech were removed by social media platforms, compared to 35% of similar posts made in English.
The study, conducted from April 2023 until April 2024, collected data from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X, formerly Twitter.
The removal rate for posts made in Arabic was lower across all five platforms.
While 11% in 2023 and 17% in 2024 of English posts denying or distorting the Holocaust were removed on Facebook, 4% in 2023 and less than 1% in 2024 of similar posts in Arabic were removed on that same platform.
Similarly, while X removed 34% in 2023 and 42% in 2024, Holocaust distortion posts made in Arabic were only removed 8% of the time in 2023 and 3% in 2024.
An actor wearing symbols of the Holocaust and of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas takes part in a ceremony hosted by the Yad Ezer Lechaver Association ahead of International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, in Haifa on January 25. (credit: REUTERS/SHIR TOREM)
An actor wearing symbols of the Holocaust and of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas takes part in a ceremony hosted by the Yad Ezer Lechaver Association ahead of International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, in Haifa on January 25. (credit: REUTERS/SHIR TOREM)
Holocaust-related antisemitic posts discovered by CyberWell
The majority of posts identified (61%) breached the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism under article 4: Holocaust denial. A further 26% Accused the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
Nearly 30% of the posts included in the study made use of stereotypes, generalizations, and conspiratorial content about Jews.
An additional 24% called for, glorified, or justified violence against Jews.
Another 8% of the posts included in the study compared Israel to the Nazis.
In one post used as an example in the report, a user used the term “Holohoax” and claimed the Jews were to blame for the Russian Revolution and the deaths of 30 million Russians.
The post mentioned above was also flagged on X, with the tag “Visibility Limited.” Nervertheless, it gained over 16,000 views.
“This is just one example where Jews are blamed for global events and tragedies, which is a common phenomenon,” the report noted.
‘Hitler was right’
CyberWell found the phrase “Hitler was right” was used over 2600 times, with a potential reach of 1.8 million users, since the beginning of April 2024.
The report commented that this phrase is commonly used during times of heightened conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Additionally, during times of heightened conflict see, posts comparing Jews with Nazis increase as well.
“While not all posts referring to Zionism are antisemitic, CyberWell has detected a significant number of antisemitic posts that do use “Zionist/Zionists/Zios” as a coded term for ‘Jews,’” the report further noted. “The post above does not bother with coded language and refers to Jews directly, claiming that they deserve even more suffering than they experienced throughout history and that Jews are hurting the Palestinian people worse than Hitler harmed them.”