Since Elon Musk took over as CEO of Twitter in October 2022, the number of anti-Semitic tweets on the microblogging service has risen rapidly. According to analysis by the media platform “The Conversation”, the tech company CASM Technology and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, corresponding postings more than doubled in the months after the takeover. The experts criticize that only just under 8.5 percent of the anti-Semitic content was removed during this period.
Reached new level of hate
“When a sharp increase in anti-Semitic reports was registered on Twitter in the days after Elon Musk came to power, the portal's security chief at the time only blamed it on a 'concentrated, short-term troll campaign'. “But our research now clearly shows that the opposite is the case,” says Carl Miller in his report for The Conversation. In reality, we are dealing with a completely new level of anti-Semitic hatred.
The reasons are complex: “Musk, who likes to portray himself as a champion of free expression, has steered Twitter in a fundamentally different direction since the takeover,” says Miller. The US billionaire dissolved the in-house 'Trust and Safety Council', which was responsible for controlling and removing inappropriate material on the platform. In addition, numerous previously blocked accounts were reactivated and over half of the employees were saved. “Many of them were also concerned with the fight against hate speech,” said Miller.
One million tweets evaluated
To find out how much anti-Semitic ideas are actually being spread on Twitter, the scientist and co-founder of the British Center for Analysis of Social Media and his partners combined 22 algorithms and machine learning approaches that have been trained specifically to detect hate speech. Between June 1, 2022 and February 9, 2023, over a million tweets were recorded and evaluated that contained at least one of 119 previously defined keywords that are associated with anti-Semitism.
A total of 325,739 reports were identified in this way that could be classified as “plausibly anti-Semitic”. These were posted by 146,516 different user accounts. Before Musk took over, there were an average of 6,204 anti-Semitic tweets per week, after which this number increased by 105 percent to 12,762.
Source:
Press release
Also read our fact checks:
Rare snake cat from the Amazon!
Really now? Sugar: Why it can be harmful to our health - A fact check
Welcome money: When Ukrainian refugees have to be used as a scapegoat for envy
If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:
📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.
Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!
* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

