TEL AVIV – As YouTube marks its 20th anniversary on Feb. 14, a new report by CyberWell, an innovative tech nonprofit focused on monitoring and combatting the spread of antisemitism as well as Holocaust denial and distortion online, has shed light on YouTube’s failures to enforce its “Advertiser-Friendly Content” policies that have effectively monetized antisemitic content on the platform. CyberWell’s research found major gaps in the enforcement of YouTube’s own policies — revealing that 24 percent of verified anti-Jewish videos in English were monetized with ads.
The nonprofit’s research examined hundreds of AI-flagged videos containing blatant Jew-hatred as well as antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories posted in English and Arabic.
CyberWell’s study, conducted over the second half of 2024 and delivered to YouTube alongside enforcement recommendations, focused on videos posted between October 2023 and 2024. It revealed the growing role that YouTube’s advertising has in funding the propagation of antisemitism. This research was made possible by the Auschwitz Pledge Foundation’s Erase Indifference Challenge, of which CyberWell was a 2023 challenge winner.
CyberWell uses AI technology to monitor for posts in English and Arabic that are consistent with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Each post is then individually vetted by the nonprofit’s analysts and submitted to social media platform moderators alongside the relevant community guidelines and hate speech policies the individual post violates (sometimes referred to as “Trust and Safety”). Simultaneously, the vetted post is published to CyberWell’s open database of antisemitic social media posts, available at app.cyberwell.org. This platform is meant to drive user-led reporting and anyone with a social media account can participate in reporting prohibited Jew-hatred directly to platforms.
CyberWell’s findings show that 24 percent of the English-language videos analyzed and a concerning 36 percent of the Arabic-language videos, were monetized with ads. This monetization represents a direct financial incentive for YouTube’s parent company, Google, and YouTube creators to facilitate the production and amplification of hate content. CyberWell and other organizations fighting antisemitism have long pointed to the significant increase in online Jew-hate and the rapid increase in antisemitic attacks against Jewish individuals and communal institutions. Content amplified online on platforms like YouTube create a dangerous cycle: hate speech gains traction, advertisers fund it, the platforms and content creators profit from both the content and its advertising revenue and a climate of hostility and violence towards Jews is reinforced globally.
While the majority of the content examined violates YouTube’s community guidelines, particularly its Hate Speech Policy, only a small fraction—less than 11 percent—was removed after being reported by users. This is well below YouTube’s average removal rate for online antisemitism, which CyberWell documented as 32.1 percent in its 2024 annual report. The study further illustrated significant gaps in YouTube’s enforcement of its own policies in detecting and removing antisemitic videos that violate the company’s community guidelines.
CyberWell’s report also found that content creators often circumvented YouTube’s automated detection systems, which rely heavily on voice recognition technology, by using techniques such as overlaying text or using visual aids to avoid detection. Some users merely posted disclaimers claiming that their content is not affiliated with hate groups before posting their antisemitic content.
In addition to examining the videos themselves, CyberWell assessed the ads that accompanied them. The report found that the ads were largely diverse, representing a broad range of companies and institutions. Despite YouTube’s own guidelines explicitly stating that ads should not appear alongside hate speech content, the ads were still running on videos that clearly violate YouTube’s own standards. According to YouTube’s “Advertiser-Friendly Content” policy, content that disparages, humiliates, or incites hatred against individuals or groups based on their race, religion, or ethnicity is not eligible for monetization.
“As YouTube celebrates its milestone anniversary, it must take greater responsibility for the content that appears on its site and take immediate action to curb the spread of antisemitism and bar the monetization of hate and harmful content,” said CyberWell Founder and Executive Director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor. “In the digital age, advertising revenue is a primary motivator for content creators and social media companies alike. The financial incentive from ad revenue must be removed from amplifying hate speech and anti-Jewish vitriol, especially during this unprecedented rise in antisemitism globally. YouTube’s algorithms appear ill-equipped to recognize the full range of antisemitic rhetoric, particularly when expressed through images or subtle language. The lack of precision in identifying the full range of Jew-hatred has led to worrying gaps in the enforcement of its policies against antisemitic content and in a failure to protect brands on their platform.”
In response to these findings, CyberWell has issued several recommendations for YouTube to improve its handling of antisemitic content. Among these are calls to rigorously enforce the platform’s Hate Speech Policy, improve detection of religious antisemitism and implement stricter safeguards on monetized content. The report also suggests that YouTube consider adopting new methods of detecting antisemitic rhetoric in video thumbnails, images and written disclaimers, which have been employed to bypass the platform’s automated systems.
“In the face of rising global antisemitism and the increasing prevalence of conspiracy theories that fuel real-world violence, the onus is on YouTube to recognize the harmful impact of monetizing hateful content. By prioritizing stronger enforcement of its policies and improving its detection capabilities, YouTube can take meaningful steps toward reducing the spread of harmful content and protecting its users from hate-driven rhetoric,” she added.
CyberWell is an independent, international, tech-rooted nonprofit combatting the spread of antisemitism online. Its AI-technologies monitor social media in English and Arabic for posts that promulgate antisemitism, Holocaust denial and promote violence against Jews. Its analysts review and report this content to platform moderators while indexing all verified posts in the first-ever open database of antisemitic social media posts – democratically cataloging it for transparency. Through partnerships, education and real-time alerts, CyberWell is holding social media platforms and their moderators accountable, promoting proactive steps against online Jew-hate.
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