Researchers find antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate on X
Social media X (earlier known as Twitter) continues to host the overwhelming majority of a sample of posts that breach platform rules for promoting antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian hate and other hateful rhetoric in the wake of the Israel-Gaza crisis, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
CCDH researchers collected a total of 200 hateful posts that were published after Hamas’ attacks on Israel on 7 October – all of which either directly addressed the ongoing conflict, or appeared to be informed by it. The posts were collected from a total of 101 separate X accounts.
The posts were reported to moderators for breaching platform rules via the official reporting tools on Tuesday 31 October. The sample of posts were subsequently reviewed on Tuesday 7 November to audit the action.
“Despite having a full week to process the reports, researchers found that X continued to host 98% (196) of the 200 posts”, CCDH says.
The organisation says that posts the platform continued to host included those that:
- Incite violence against Muslims, Palestinians, and Jewish people
- State that “Hitler saw Jews for what they were”
- Claim that Muslims are “smelly rats”
- Refer to Palestinians in Gaza as “animals”
- Deny and diminish the Holocaust
- Promote antisemitic caricatures
- Promote antisemitic conspiracy theories
- Deny the existence of Palestinians as a people
- Glorify Nazis and Nazism
- Nazis and Nazism
“In total, the posts that remained up have accrued 24,043,693 views. Out of the 101 accounts in the study, only one was suspended and a further two “locked”.”
“43 of the 101 accounts in the sample are verified accounts, which means they benefit from algorithmic boosts to the visibility of their posts.”
“X has sought to reassure advertisers and the public that they have a handle on hate speech – but our research indicates that these are nothing but empty words, says Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the CCDH.
“This is the inevitable result when you slash safety and moderation staff, put the Bat Signal up to welcome back previously banned hate actors, and offer increased visibility to anyone willing to pay $8 a month.!
He says that owner, Elon Musk has “created a safe space for racists, and has sought to make a virtue of the impunity that leads them to attack, harass and threaten marginalized communities.”
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