How hate moves from screen to street

Two experts have told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion that the online environment is driving radicalisation and fuelling a sustained surge in anti-Jewish hate since October 7, 2023.

Theresa Rajah, director of online violence prevention at Moonshot, which works with the Five Eyes governments and platforms including Google and Meta, described the online space as “an active incubator” for grievances and behavioural escalation, in which algorithmic targeting steadily feeds users more extreme content. She cited a study by forensic psychologist Jonathan Kenyon and colleagues of 235 individuals convicted of extremist offences in England and Wales, which found the internet had played a central role in nearly every case.

Rajah outlined three recent shifts: a sharp rise in minors as young as 12 engaging with extremist content; a move away from ideology, with pathways increasingly beginning in spaces organised around nihilism, misogyny and graphic violence – “people seeking out violence for the sake of violence”; and record exposure to harmful content.

Asked by Commissioner Virginia Bell about young people absorbing antisemitic memes about Hitler, Rajah warned normalisation could happen “quite rapidly”, with organised networks luring children from other platforms into extreme spaces.

Associate Professor Matteo Vergani, co-director of the Tackling Hate Lab at Deakin University, detailed a major report into anti-Jewish hate on X. Its central finding was a sharp, persistent rise in hostility targeting Jews after October 7 – a structural shift, not a temporary reaction – that had not returned to pre-October 7 levels by March 2026, with further spikes after events such as the Bondi attack.