Press Release | Leading Social Media Monitor Says 296 Holocaust Denial Posts Over Last Year Reached 11 Million Users

LEADING SOCIAL MEDIA MONITOR SAYS 296 HOLOCAUST DENIAL POSTS OVER LAST YEAR REACHED 11 MILLION USERS

GROUP REPORTS THAT ENGLISH MODERATION EFFORTS HAVE IMPROVED, BUT POSTS IN ARABIC STILL LARGELY GO UNFILTERED

TEL AVIV – As we approach Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), CyberWell, an innovative tech nonprofit focused on monitoring and combatting the spread of Holocaust denial and antisemitism online, is reporting that 296 Holocaust denial posts over the last year reached 11 million users on Meta and X, with weak moderation efforts, particularly in Arabic.

The data insights released by the online watchdog group highlights a small increase in moderation efforts over the past year for English-language posts denying or distorting the Holocaust, rising from 11 to 17 percent action rate on Facebook and from 34 to 42 percent on X when reported from regular user accounts. Both platforms failed to reach prior years’ removal rates for Arabic posts denying the Holocaust.

The group’s AI monitors for posts likely to fit within the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. After being flagged by the technology 296 posts were confirmed by analysts to specifically deny or distort the Holocaust in violation of the respective platform’s community standards. The posts collectively reached over 11 million views and engagements. Some of these posts compared Jews to German coal (on TikTok), reminiscent of the burning of Jewish corpses in the Nazi’s death camps, and some refer to the Holocaust as the “Holohoax.” The hashtag “HitlerWasRight” has been shared over 2,600 times since the start of April 2024.

“As we get further away from the horrific events of the Holocaust, the role that social media plays in ensuring that they are hosting accurate information about one of the greatest catastrophes in human history is crucial—especially as is evidenced today with online misinformation and disinformation sparking openly antisemitic demonstrations, with protestors chanting ‘gas the Jews’, and real-world violence,” said CyberWell Founder and Executive Director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor. “The need for effective platform-led countering of misinformation and disinformation around the denial of the Holocaust and other violent event denials, like October 7 denial, is also key for limiting the promulgation of hate speech.”

“The good news is when digital policy is clear –resources and enforcement tend to be better. Holocaust denial and distortion is one of the better enforced and removed forms of online antisemitism according to CyberWell’s research. However, platforms must do more to ensure that moderation efforts are scaled to other languages including Arabic. It is disheartening to see that posts which so clearly violate the platforms’ own community standards are remaining online to be further shared despite their vile vitriol,” she added.

CyberWell uses AI technology to monitor for posts in English and Arabic that violate the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which the organization’s analysts then vet and report to social media platform moderators alongside the community standards and hate speech policies the post violates. When posts meet antisemitic guidelines that fall outside of established policies, CyberWell releases contextualized guidance to social media companies so that they can better moderate the content on their platforms.

CyberWell’s Yom HaShoah report can be found at: https://cyberwell.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Yom-HaShoah-2024_CyberWell-Report.pdf

CyberWell indexes 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 influencing social media platforms to take proactive steps against online Jew-hate. For more information, visit: https://cyberwell.org/.