Instagram users may not necessarily be heading online in search of antisemitic content but many are finding it, a new report has warned.  

Analysis published Monday by the Community Security Trust (CST) and the Antisemitism Policy Trust (APT) suggests online users may be accessing antisemitic content regardless of their “intentions and chosen search terms.”

“For antisemitic content, this would appear to represent supply rather than demand,” warns their report based on research carried out last year by data scientists at the Woolf Institute in Cambridge.

Dozens of hashtags containing antisemitism or links to Jew-hate were viewed tens of thousands of times on the platform over a seven-week period, the report found. 

Experts combing the social media network for antisemitic material found it often appeared in hashtags attached to seemingly unrelated posts. 

Hashtags containing or associated with antisemitism also featured alongside hashtags related to conspiracy theories concerning chemtrails, 5G and paedophilia.

“In this way, antisemitic terms and tropes appear to be, in some cases, deployed almost randomly by users alongside other forms of discriminatory, hateful or conspiratorial hashtags. 

“These posts can, of course, also act as a resource or gateway to further racist content,” the report warns. 

Researchers also found a “strong association” with antisemitism on the platform and anti-Israel attitudes.

The report calls on Instagram to review conspiracy theories on its platform and work to improve its algorithmic filtering of antisemitic keywords linked to the theories.

It also urged the social media giant to “develop the capability and resources to identify when anti-Israel or anti-Zionist language is associated with antisemitism or used as a way of expressing antisemitic sentiment.”

A majority of the hashtags published in the report have been blocked, a spokesperson for Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, told the JC. 

“We’ve blocked the majority of the hashtags published in the report for breaking our rules, meaning that no results appear when you search for them. 

“We don’t tolerate hate speech of any kind on Instagram, and last year we updated our policies to remove more implicit antisemitism and content that denies or distorts the Holocaust. 

“We know there’s more work to do and we are committed to continuing to develop new ways to prevent, identify and remove this offensive content quickly,” the spokesperson said.

Reacting to the report’s findings, CST chief Mark Gardner said it shows “that Instagram falls short of its own policies. 

“Once again we have a leading social media platform that directs its users into a spiral of hatred and conspiracy theories.”

APT chief Danny Stone said enforcement on social media platforms “remains totally inadequate” and backed the government’s Online Safety Bill set to come under pre-legislative scrutiny this week. 

The bill proposes to empower Ofcom to fine social firms deemed to have failed in a new duty of care and block access to websites.

It would “provide a chance to turn the tide on this unregulated industry, and so I hope we will see the introduction of a wide ranging duty of care to prevent this foreseeable harm from spreading further,” Mr Stone said.