The Impact of Antisemitic Content and Hate Speech on Social Media on Young Jewish Social Media Users

Abstract

Studies show that the amount of antisemitic content on social media is constantly increasing, and that Jews encounter antisemitism most directly on social platforms. For this chapter, three Jewish social media users were interviewed about their experience with and their reactions toward antisemitism on social networks. It shows how the respondents make use of social networks and analyze respondents’ answers about the forms of antisemitism they experience, where they encounter antisemitism, and which counter-strategies they use. This research shows that – depending on their usage of social media platforms – the respondents experience a lot of antisemitism in different forms and on different occasions. The article finds that the respondents develop strategies to avoid antisemitism by hiding their Jewish identity and by censoring their social media activities.