Press Release | Pioneering Ethical Tech Database Tracks Online Antisemitism in Real Time

“Confronting the crisis of rampant antisemitism on social media is impossible without good data.”

—CyberWell Founder & CEO Tal-Or Cohen

Tel-Aviv, Israel (November 10, 2022) – CyberWell, an Israeli ethical tech nonprofit, has built a first-of-its-kind database that tracks online antisemitism in real time, allowing users to get an accurate picture of the nature and magnitude of digital Jew-hatred.

Using advanced open-source intelligence technology, CyberWell’s platform collects and classifies antisemitic posts according to the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which 38 countries, including the US, alongside a wide range of municipal and regional governments, have adopted for official use.

Every post in the database is also assessed for violating the hate speech policies of its respective platform of origin – and CyberWell monitors how long it takes for platforms to remove the antisemitic content once reported. So far, the measured removal rate is an abysmal 16%, in line with studies showing that more than 80% of antisemitic content is not removed.

“Jewish social media users don’t feel safe, and our data validates that by showing how much antisemitic content goes unchallenged,” said CyberWell Founder & CEO Tal-Or Cohen. “Each repugnant post we catalog is a testament to the need for platforms to enforce their standards more rigorously.”

CyberWell’s unique data reservoir just produced an analysis of the dangerous ripple effect of Ye (Kanye) West’s antisemitic posts. A comparison between October 2022 and the average rate in the last three months revealed the following spikes in antisemitic content, containing the following keywords, across social media, as flagged by CyberWell’s monitoring technology:

• “Kanye” – 23,214% increase
• “Black people” – 204% increase
• “Media” – 48% increase
• “Synagogue of Satan” – 7% increase

CyberWell also identified five major anti-Jewish narratives classified by the IHRA as antisemitic that are spurring online Jew-hatred in reaction to or in defense of Ye’s recent repeated antisemitic statements:

• Jews are greedy, wealthy, money-obsessed and control the economy/wealth
• Jews control the media and/or Hollywood
• Jews are in a conspiracy of slavery and/or purposeful exploitation of Black people
• Synagogue of Satan
• Jewish people are not Jewish people/Jews are false

“Policymakers for both governments and social media platforms are finally taking notice of the online antisemitism crisis, but they rely on piecemeal data that can’t track trends or short-term events as they happen,” continued Cohen. “CyberWell’s real-time monitoring changes the game, giving researchers, legislators, and social media companies the tools to articulate the magnitude of the problem and address it directly.”

Born in America, Cohen moved to Israel as a teen. After volunteering to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, she became an attorney in the high-tech field, then a business intelligence consultant leading research projects on extremist movements in the United States. When an IDF intelligence veteran suggested that she turn her technological, legal, and intelligence expertise toward combatting online antisemitism, she founded CyberWell and initiated monitoring efforts in May 2022.

For more information on CyberWell’s data collection, validation, and advocacy, please visit https://cyberwell.org/.