Social media giants ignore '84 per cent' of complaints on hate

The report found that Facebook acted on just 14 of 129 antisemitic posts (10.9 per cent); Twitter acted on 15 of 137 (10.9 per cent); TikTok on 22 of 119 (18.5 per cent); Instagram on 52 of 277 (18.8 per cent); and YouTube on 11 of 52 (21.2 per cent).

The 714 posts reported for the analysis collectively received up to 7.3 million impressions.

Just five per cent of posts blaming Jewish people for the Covid pandemic were addressed across the five platforms.

The platforms also failed to act on 92 per cent of posts implicating Jews in a vast global conspiracy sometimes referred to as the “Illuminati” or “New World Order”.

Twitter even failed to act on several posts accompanied by the hashtag “#JewWorldOrder”.

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, said: “Social media has become a safe space for racists to normalise their conspiracies and hateful rhetoric without fear of consequences. This is why social media is increasingly unsafe for Jewish people, just as it is becoming for women, black people, Muslims, LGBT people and many other groups.

“This is not about algorithms or automation; our research shows that social media companies allow bigots to keep their accounts open and their hate to remain online, even when human moderators are notified.

“Social media is how we connect as a society, where we find community. The platforms who set the rules and enforce those rules must be held accountable for their failure to protect the rights of those communities.

“The test of the government’s Online Safety Bill is whether platforms can be made to enforce their own rules or face consequences themselves. Those being targeted and harassed on social media must be allowed to participate in digital society without facing a wall of targeted identity-based abuse.”

CCDH recommended five steps for tackling online antisemitism, including hiring and training moderators to remove hate; instituting financial penalties; immediately removing groups dedicated to antisemitism; acting on antisemitic hashtags and permanently banning those who send racist abuse to Jews.