Who Is Jacob Rothschild, and What Is the Rothschild Conspiracy Theory?

Lord Jacob Rothschild, the famous Jewish-British banker, died on February 26th at the age of 87. Educated at Eton College and Oxford University, Lord Rothschild began his career at the family bank NM Rothschild & Sons before forging his own business path, which included the establishment of the thriving investment trust RIT Capital. Lord Rothschild was also a philanthropist who donated to Jewish institutions in Israel and around the world as well as to environmental, art, and cultural projects.

What is the Rothschild conspiracy theory?

The financial success of Lord Rothschild and the Rothschild dynasty throughout the generations led to the family name becoming a global symbol of wealth and earning them an almost mythical status. Over the years, they also became the subject of rumors, and as gossip spread, it began to take darker tones. The Rothschild conspiracy theory historically has centered around allegations that the family engages in schemes of world domination through control of financial institutions, but in recent years has taken on additional forms, including blaming the Rothschilds for a variety of social ills, international events, or global tragedies. Today, the Rothschild conspiracy theory is one of the most prominent forms of antisemitism found on social media platforms.

CyberWell has repeatedly seen that conspiracies surrounding the Rothschild family are consistently the trendiest, most viral, and most searched of all the conspiracies we monitor — a pattern that continued following the recent passing of Lord Rothschild.

Online antisemitism surges following Lord Rothschild’s death

In this blog we break down some of the most notable antisemitic narratives regarding the death of Lord Rothschild across the five social media platforms that we monitor (Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and TikTok). We also include an analysis of posts in two languages: English and Arabic.

Our methodology determined that there are three keyword combinations with a high probability of indicating content including antisemitism. We looked at the number of posts over the last four months and following Lord Rothschild’s passing that included these keywords. They include: “Rothschild” and “Evil,” “Rothschild” and “Hitler,” and “Rothschild” and “Satan.”

In CyberWell’s dataset, X hosted the most antisemitic posts relating to the death of Lord Rothschild.

Keyword Combination: Rothschild and Evil

In the four months prior to Lord Rothschild’s passing, this combination was posted an average of 580 times per day. On the day Lord Rothschild died, the number spiked to about 20,800 posts — an increase of almost 3,500%!*

Interestingly, this same combination of terms experienced a particularly significant spike on February 19, the day after the X post featured below was published. This phrase was used in almost 16,800 posts, with this one post alone reaching over 3.4 million views on X. The post features a video clip of an interview with Lord Rothschild discussing his family’s contribution to the Balfour Declaration.

Keyword Combination: Rothschild and Hitler

While this combination was used an average of 160 posts per day over the last four mounts, on the day of Lord Rothschild’s death it jumped to about 800 posts — an increase of 400%.

Keyword Combination: Rothschild and Satan

This combination of terms was used an average of 290 times per day in the four months leading up to Lord Rothchild’s passing. On the day of his death it jumped up to 16,000 posts — an increase of about 5,400%!

Taking Action: YouTube Dispels Conspiracy Theories

The numbers above are deeply troubling, but CyberWell firmly believes that social media platforms have an important role to play in minimizing hate. We therefore want to take a moment to commend YouTube for a recent and important policy change. YouTube now displays an information panel at the top of videos featuring antisemitic conspiracy theories, providing background information that is sourced from independent, third-party partners, in an effort to dispel harmful and unfounded myths.

This is an important tool for addressing dis- and misinformation hosted on platforms and dispelling conspiracy theories and outright lies, particularly related to vulnerable minority groups. We call on all social media platforms to take similar action!

Top Online Antisemitic Narratives Following Lord Rothschild’s Passing

Rothschild and World Domination

The Rothschild family is often used to symbolize the antisemitic trope of global Jewish control. Many social media posts accuse the family of wielding excessive and disproportionate economic power, through which they have controlled the global stage for centuries. This trope was echoed in a number of posts responding to news of Lord Rothschild’s death.

Video Description: “#satan rothchild #wealth #gov”

Video Content: “Jacob Rothschild died today. The Rothschild family is worth more than 500 trillion dollars. They nearly own every central bank around the world. They have financed both sides of every war since Napoleon. They own our media, they own the oil and they own most governments…”

It goes without saying, but this post contains a number of factual inaccuracies.

The post below claims that the Rothschild family secretly controls the State of Israel, and through wielding their control over Israel they control world politics and economics. This post received over 525K views!

Demonizing the Rothschilds as Evil

The Rothschild family has been heavily demonized, with many conspiracy theorists attaching dark religious undertones and attributing evil intent to their alleged actions. Some even go so far as to accuse them of worshipping Satan. This characterization of the Rothschilds as evil has led conspiracy theorists to accuse the Rothschild family of everything from controlling the Freemasons and the Illuminati to being behind the New World Order. These claims particularly stood out on social media after the death of Lord Rothschild.

The post below presents Jacob Rothschild as a demon who manipulated human society and, upon his death, will now return to the demonic realms. It was tweeted by David Icke, a verified X user, English sports commentator, and conspiracy theorist. The post received over 5.8M views!

The post below not only references several conspiracy theories — such as the Rothschild family being in cahoots with everything from the Illuminati to the Freemasons to Satanists — but it also specifically highlights that Lord Rothschild will be buried in accordance with Jewish custom. We often see that “Rothschild” is used as a coded symbol for “Jews”, and singling out this segment referring to Jewish custom demonstrates the real conspiratorial belief of Jewish power behind the surface conspiracy of Rothschild power.

Glorification of Jacob Rothschild’s Death

Many posts on social media celebrated Lord Rothschild’s death. They allege that he was an evil man who caused serious global harm and is now where he belongs — hell — where demons like him are found. The first post below received over 1.1M views!

The Rothschilds and the Royal Family

A highly prominent conspiracy theory specifically regarding the British branch of the Rothschild family is that they allegedly control the British royal family. After the death of Lord Rothschild, this theory reached new delusional heights – a display of King Charles’s guards in the streets of London, which seemed unusual, ignited a flurry of rumors that this had to do with Lord Rothschild’s passing and as proof that he controlled the royal family. This false antisemitic claim has been denied and proven wrong by Reuters. Posts that presented the alleged connection between the King’s Guards demonstration and Rothschild’s death reached tens of millions of views! Below are several examples:

The post below claims that there is further proof of the Rothschild family’s control of the British royal family as Prince William is allegedly secretly the son of Lord Rothschild.

Hitler had Secret Rothschild Roots

The vilest conspiracy theory related to the Rothschild family is the argument that Adolf Hitler, who masterminded the mass genocide of Jews in the Holocaust, was actually part of the Rothschild family — or at least controlled by them. The conspirators claim that a woman named Maria Anna Schickelgruber became pregnant out of wedlock when she worked as a maid in the house of Baron Rothschild. Her child went on to be the father of Adolf Hitler. This conspiracy theory is not only deeply offensive as it blames victims of the largest genocide in human history for their own extermination, but also as it distorts the Holocaust by claiming that Jews orchestrated their own victimhood in order to achieve political goals, such as the establishment of the State of Israel.

YouTube video title: “What the Media Won’t Tell You About LORD JACOB ROTHSCHILD”

Video description: “This is an educational documentary regarding the history of the FAMOUS Rothschild family!”

Video content: “With the Rothschilds bankers funding both the Axis and the Allies, the second world war brought us closer to a one world government with the establishment of the United Nations. But money wasn’t the only thing that the Rothschilds contributed to second world war […] Not only was Hitler supported by the Rothschilds he was a Rothschild. Hitler’s father was the illegitimate son of girl who was living in Vienna at the time. She conceived and at that time she was employed as a servant in the home of Baron Rothschild. But as soon the family discovered her pregnancy, she was sent back home where Hitler’s father was born. With the house of Rothchild […] the force behind the Zionist movement, their connections to Hitler and the funding of both world wars is curious. Especially given that one of the results of World War II was the state of Israel”.

Fighting Evil in Dark Times

The accusations against the Rothschild family are a recycling of antisemitic tropes that have been leveled against Jews for thousands of years. We are now in the Hebrew month of Adar when the story of Purim took place around 2,500 years ago. Today, the celebration of Purim commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from the genocide planned by Haman. Haman justified his genocidal plan through spreading antisemitic conspiracies and demonizing the Jews to King Ahasuerus.

In the book of Esther, Haman tells King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people [the Jews] scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people; neither keep they the king’s laws; therefore, it is not in the king’s interest to tolerate them.”^[1]

This should feel familiar, as a number of conspiracy theories echo the same arguments today. By first presenting the Jewish people as scattered among the nations, Haman insinuates that the Jews have eyes and ears everywhere. Some commentators explain that Haman further alleged that these representatives threatened the king’s power. Haman’s statement about the strange laws of Judaism strengthened his narrative that it is a secret and dark sect. Moreover, the Midrash interprets that Haman presented to King Ahasuerus antisemitic arguments about Jewish control of the economy. Among other things, he claimed that the Jews had a monopoly on trade and they leveraged this control to close the markets once a week on Saturdays and throughout the year on Jewish holidays, thus causing a financial loss to non-Jews.^[2]

Haman’s arguments fit right in with the Nazi paper Der Stürmer or the deeply antisemitic document the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Purim takes on a very special status in Jewish tradition. This is the only holiday of which it is said that it is eternal and will never be nullified.^[3] In the Book of Zohar it is even said that Purim is more important than Yom Kippur^[4] — typically considered the holiest day of the year. But what makes Purim so special? The period of Purim was very dark for the Jewish people – they were in exile after the destruction of the First Temple and were under the control of King Ahasuerus who reigned over 127 countries.^[5] When King Ahasuerus held a banquet that lasted six months, he added insult to injury by using vessels taken from the First Temple and wearing the clothes of the High Priest of Israel.^[6] Alongside the national humiliation, this was also a spiritually difficult period – for the first time the Jewish people had no prophets to guide them, and God was “hiding his countenance”.^[7] This is why the book of Esther is the only book in the Jewish bible in which the name of God is not mentioned — not even a hint.

Against the backdrop of all this suffering came the decree initiated by Haman to destroy the entire Jewish people. And despite the very difficult situation, the Jewish people did not give up – they stuck to their faith and finally overcame their enemies. The story in the Book of Esther describes, on the one hand, the extraordinary courage and heroism of Queen Esther, who risked her life in the palace of King Ahasuerus to prevent the execution of Haman’s decree, and on the other hand, the rest of the Jewish people in Shushan, led by Esther’s uncle, Mordechai, who fasted for three days during Passover,^[8] prayed for salvation,^[9] and revalidated the reception of the Torah.^[10]

The true message of Purim is the ability to subdue evil and not lose hope – even in the darkest of times.

CyberWell stands behind the message of fighting for what’s right even when times are dark. Antisemitism, which has existed for thousands of years and led to the untold suffering of Jewish people everywhere, is more dangerous today than ever due to the ability to spread hatred easily and quickly to mass audiences through social media platforms. The antisemitic reactions to the death of Lord Jacob Rothschild alone were viewed by tens of millions of people. Social media platforms must understand the huge responsibility they shoulder to protect vulnerable communities and enforce and improve their hate speech policies. In the face of rising antisemitism on social media and around the globe today, CyberWell works non-stop and fights to get such content removed by the platforms at scale. We urge you to join our mission by reporting antisemitic content for immediate review and removal at app.cyberwell.org and make our digital spaces better and safer for all.

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*Potential reach of key words or phrases is calculated through social listening tools that CyberWell uses, which track forums and some social media platforms, based on a sample of posts with high engagement. These numbers offer an indication of pattern shifts but are not absolute.

[1] Esther 3:8.

[2] Midrash Abba Gorion 3.

[3] Esther 9:28; Midrash Mishlei 9:2.

[4] Tikkunei Zohar 57.

[5] Esther 1:1.

[6] Id., 1:3-7; Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 12a, 19a.

[7] See Devarim (Deuteronomy) 31:18; Babylonian Talmud, Chullin 139b.

[8] Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 50; Esther Rabbah 8:7

[9] Esther 4:16.

[10] Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 88a.