Online antisemitism at record high

Online antisemitism is at its highest recorded level three years after October 7, with no platform returning to pre-attack levels, according to the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI).

The institute’s fifth monitoring report, October 7 Three Years On: Trends in Online Antisemitism, attributes the trend to a combination of rising antisemitism and decreasing effort by platforms to address it.

Levels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have continued climbing beyond the initial post-October 7 surge, while Facebook, X, Gab, Telegram, Reddit and BitChute have held roughly steady at their elevated levels.

The report includes Threads for the first time, finding levels comparable to X. In February and March, Threads recorded more antisemitic items per eight hours of monitoring than X. OHPI said this undercuts the assumption that Threads is less problematic than the platform many users left in protest at Elon Musk’s ownership.

Meta’s three platforms –Facebook, Instagram and Threads – showed reduced levels during June and July, coinciding with Royal Commission hearings on social media at which Meta executives gave evidence. The reductions did not last, with levels rebounding in subsequent months. No equivalent drop was recorded for TikTok, YouTube or LinkedIn, whose representatives also appeared.

Antisemitism rose on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Gab and Reddit between December and January, which the institute links to responses to the Bondi Beach attack and to the announcement of the Royal Commission on January 8.

Traditional antisemitism – conspiracy theories, dehumanisation, blood libel and deicide claims – remains by far the most prevalent category, and the one that rose most sharply after October 7. It constitutes over 80 per cent of material gathered on Gab and Telegram.

LinkedIn is the outlier, with Israel-related antisemitism consistently above 70 per cent of material found there. The institute says LinkedIn and Reddit have the lowest overall volumes, suggesting effective moderation of other forms but a blind spot on Israel and Zionism.

Violence-related material remains the least common category but reached 27.6 per cent of Gab data in June and July, and more than a quarter of TikTok data in April and May.

The report calls for government funding to sustain the monitoring, saying it represents capacity that eSafety, police and other parts of government do not provide.