A 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and the X logo are seen in this illustration taken Jan. 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
A new year-long study released on Monday by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) reveals the extent to which X has allowed an epidemic of antisemitic invective to infect the platform in the years since billionaire Elon Musk purchased the popular social media site for $44 billion in 2022.
Researchers used OpenAI’s GPT-4o model to analyze English-language posts between February 2024 and January 2025, identifying 679,584 posts containing antisemitic content that collectively received 193 million views.
The report, first reported by CNN, concluded that antisemitic conspiracy theories thrive on the site
“Antisemitic conspiracies are rampant on X. These conspiracies are not new and can be separated into three categories: Jewish control or power conspiracies, Jewish satanic conspiracies, and Holocaust denial. Of the total antisemitic posts, 59 percent were identified as being conspiracy theories,” the report stated. “Despite this being just over half of the posts, they accounted for 73 percent of all likes. There is a clear pattern that posts promoting antisemitic conspiracies seem to be more likely to generate likes and engagement than other forms of antisemitic content.”
Posts relating to allegations of secret Jewish power proliferated and succeeded in engagement metrics. They represented 30 percent of the yearly sample but accounted for 44 percent of total likes and views. “These online conspiracies cannot be taken in isolation,” the report warned. “They are linked to real-world harm. The FBI and extensive other research have warned that antisemitism is a ‘persistent driver’ of violent extremism, with many attackers referencing the tropes in manifestos or online interactions. Alarmingly, polling indicates that teens who heavily use social media are more likely to support the Jewish power conspiracy.”
Enforcement was rare, even against the most visible posts. By identifying the 100 most-viewed posts from each conspiracy category, a set of 300 posts, researchers found that only four had a publicly visible Community Note — just over one percent — including only two of the top 100 Holocaust denial posts. Together, the 296 posts without corrective notes amassed 86 million views.
In total, X only took action on 36 of the 300 posts promoting antisemitic conspiracies, equivalent to 12 percent. Of those, 21 posts had their visibility limited, six were removed, four displayed Community Notes, three were from deleted accounts, and two were from suspended accounts. Even with reduced visibility, the flagged posts drew a combined 2.8 million views.
The study also exposed the role of a small number of influential accounts. “Of all the posts identified as antisemitic, ten individual ‘antisemitism influencers’ account for 32 percent of total likes on posts in our sample. The other 68 percent of likes were from 159,055 users, displaying the disproportionate levels of influence that the top ten antisemitism influencers have,” the report said. Six of these ten purchased verification through X Premium, giving their content boosted reach, and five ran ads or subscriptions that generated revenue. Researchers estimated that X could earn more than $140,000 annually from ad placements near such accounts.
The authors stressed that their numbers likely undercount the true scale of antisemitism on the site due to current technical limitations.
“Our analysis is limited to the text content of posts on X, and therefore cannot identify posts containing antisemitic images, videos, or audio. Another key limitation is that the third-party tool used to study posts does not provide view data for posts without engagement, making the total number of views for posts in our study a low estimate,” the report explained.
CCDH founder and CEO Imran Ahmed and JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick called for X to change course.
“The old conspiracy theories that simmered in the margins of society now thrive in plain sight, amplified by X’s ineffective content moderation policies. In many cases, the platform not only tolerates this content but allows users to monetize it, giving antisemitic influencers both reach and revenue,” Ahmed and Spitalnick wrote in the study’s introduction. “At a time when polarization, extremism, and violence are rising at home and abroad, the unchecked spread of antisemitism online is a direct threat to public safety … Unless platforms change course, live up to their terms of service, and stop the spread of antisemitism and broader hate and extremism, it will likely, and sadly, lead to further violent incidents targeting our communities and our democracy.”
These findings add to years of research and a catalog of controversies. In July, Musk’s Grok chatbot echoed a longstanding antisemitic trope about Jewish executives in Hollywood, sparking alarm about how training AI on X’s content could replicate extremist biases. In January, a coalition of major Jewish organizations announced they would cease posting on X after Musk’s apparent Nazi-style salute at a Trump rally and Holocaust jokes.
However, these issues manifested earlier. In September 2023, 100 Jewish leaders from across the spectrum urged advertisers and app stores to sever ties with Musk’s platform, citing its embrace of extremist discourse. That same month, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt challenged Musk for amplifying campaigns against the ADL, while Musk threatened to sue the watchdog group for lost ad revenue, earning the praise of white supremacists.
In August 2023, the Auschwitz Memorial criticized X for refusing to remove a reported antisemitic post, warning that such decisions normalize hate. And in February 2023, the Combat Antisemitism Movement documented a surge of neo-Nazis flocking to the website immediately after Musk’s takeover, seeing him as an ally who would loosen restrictions.
Musk has defended his approach as protecting free expression, saying after reinstating Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes that “it is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than grow simmering in the darkness.” He has praised Community Notes as a corrective tool, but the new study concluded that in practice the feature has almost no effect.
Musk’s approach has carried consequences beyond X, with Tesla and his broader business empire enduring the damage.
In April 2025, Tesla reported a 13 percent drop in deliveries — its weakest quarter since 2022 — with The Guardian citing brand damage as a factor. That same month, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm sold $230 million in company stock, more than half in the wake of Musk’s political interventions.
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