Hate continues to climb

Dr Andre Oboler, founder and chief executive of the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI), presented his second report to the Royal Commission, discussing antisemitism on social media platforms.

On Facebook, Oboler said levels in January and April this year had climbed significantly above the post-October 7 baseline, believing it could be linked to the “Iran situation”. He said Elon Musk’s acquisition of X led to about 80 per cent of trust and safety staff being dismissed. He told the commission he was personally targeted with a doctored antisemitic video after testifying before the European Parliament, and that a reply from the platform’s representative took more than 15 days.

Regarding Telegram, Oboler said it was dominated by the far right.

On Reddit, Oboler said Zionist-related antisemitism was growing faster than traditional antisemitism.

With TikTok, levels have nearly doubled since October 7, with the reels format itself being exploited to evade moderation. “By the time the system can deal with it, it’s not there anymore,” he said.

Regarding LinkedIn, Oboler said it was the only platform where Zionist-related antisemitism was dominant, and that LinkedIn had defended its systems when OHPI raised concerns.

Oboler noted that some platforms use an automated approach to removing hate speech including YouTube, which was first implemented by Meta but removed in January 2025.

Oboler said OHPI is a member of Meta’s combating hate speech advisory group in Australia, where it can raise concerns directly with Meta for their assessment.

He called for criminal charges for hate speech, arguing this would shift the burden of enforcement from individuals to the state, and raised concerns about generative AI being used to rapidly create new antisemitic content.

OHPI’s monitoring runs on a rotating cycle in which two analysts each spend one hour on a given platform before moving to the next, working through seven platforms over four weeks and then repeating the process. Content is coded against 27 subcategories drawn directly from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and Holocaust denial.