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Algorithms of the Big Tech Reich: The Evolution of Online Antisemitism Since October 7

Social media applications, showing Twitter before it was changed to ‘X.’ Photo: Public Domain.

In the face of the current wave of hatred against them, Jewish communities all across the world share a fundamental and timeless desire: to be seen and treated as human beings.

Antisemitism, however, has historically sought to strip away the perception of Jews as human from the fabric of religions, societies, and international forums.

Today, the assault on the perception of “the Jew” as a human is being executed through supercharged algorithms at an unprecedented scale.

In the year following the October 7 Hamas massacre, data from the major social media platforms revealed a troubling escalation in online antisemitism.

Trending anti-Jewish narratives online have moved beyond classic tropes like disdainful jokes or conspiracy theories about Jewish control, and have morphed into overt hostility, calls for violence, and a dehumanization of Jews as inherently evil. This is not merely an extension of past trends; it represents a perilous escalation in anti-Jewish rhetoric.

To effectively prevent purposeful widespread violence against Jews and safeguard national security in any Western democracy, social media reform and legislation requiring algorithmic transparency is crucial.

Recognizing the need for proactive solutions until the legal impasse on social media accountability was breached, I founded CyberWell, a nonprofit organization that launched the first open database of online antisemitism in 2022. Our efforts provide a unique multilingual analysis of online Jew-hatred, following the guidelines of major social media platforms. Today, we are official Trusted Partners of both Meta and TikTok, and share real-time alerts and digital policy compliance analysis on online Jew-hate in both English and Arabic, with additional platforms we monitor. Our goal is to increase the enforcement and drive the improvement of content moderation policies across the digital space. Our most recent report unpacks the evolution of online antisemitism in the year since October 7.

October 7 marked an unprecedented hijacking of mainstream social media by Hamas, who fashioned engagement algorithms into tools of psychological warfare. Unlike the slow drip of information surrounding the genocide of Jews that was committed during the Holocaust, the screams and gore of the hunt for Jews and perceived “collaborators” in Israel were broadcast at a massive scale, even to the personal Facebook feeds of those families slain within their own homes.

In the year since these attacks, CyberWell’s monitoring technology detected a 36.6 percent rise in content likely to be antisemitic across social media platforms. Most notably, there was an 86 percent spike in anti-Jewish content within the first three weeks after October 7. This flood of antisemitic content contributed to a significant increase in calls for violence against Jews — rising from 5 percent in the 11 months before the attacks to 13 percent of verified anti-Jewish content post-attack. Alarmingly, 61 percent of verified antisemitic content in Arabic in the weeks following October 7 justified or supported violence against Jews.

A pattern reminiscent of post-Holocaust denial also emerged immediately after October 7. This time, however, denial narratives were propelled into mainstream discourse through social media algorithms. Our October 7 deep dive report found that a mere 300 verified examples of denial content reached 25 million accounts within just over a month, with X (formerly Twitter) showing the highest engagement rates for such narratives. Not is no wonder, then, that even Susan Sarandon denies that women were raped on October 7.

On the anniversary of the attacks, the same cell of anti-Israel influencers identified in CyberWell’s report amplified 10/7 denial that started spreading 10/7 denial narratives as early as October 8, 2023, released a 45-minute documentary further perpetuating this disinformation in violation of YouTube’s policies against violent event denial.

Initially, the most widespread narrative focused on denying the exploitation of sexual violence and rape during the attack; now, it has shifted to claiming that the Israeli state orchestrated the massacre. To date, only TikTok has directly recognized October 7 denial as prohibited content according to its community guidelines.

CyberWell’s data indicates a significant shift in trending antisemitic narratives. Before October 7, the most popular antisemitic theme was the trope of Jews controlling the world or seeking world domination. Post-attack, narratives predominantly cast Jews as the enemy (29.2 percent of verified content) or as inherently evil (21.5 percent). These narratives echo historical prejudices that have justified violence against Jews for centuries—from the Crusades to the Inquisition, to the religious oppression of Jews in Arab lands, and through the horrors of the Holocaust.

Today, algorithms, rather than prophets, religious institutions, or state-controlled media, are the primary amplifiers of this toxicity. The platforms showcase brutal acts against Jews while simultaneously facilitating a denial campaign aimed at dehumanizing them and shifting the blame onto their first line of defense. In this environment, Jews are increasingly viewed as less than human, rendering their suffering unworthy of sympathy and their right to defend themselves irrelevant, if not outrageous.

We Jews are patient zero for social media’s darker impulses. Campaigns against our humanity have long been effective and popular messaging for various overlords throughout history. Now, under the current regime of big tech and in light of the US-elections, we must urgently call for legislative reforms that enhance online safety and demand transparency in algorithms. Our lives depend on it.

Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor is the founder and executive director of CyberWell, an independent tech nonprofit working with social media platforms to monitor and catalog antisemitic rhetoric while improving enforcement and enhancement efforts through community standards and hate speech policies.

The post Algorithms of the Big Tech Reich: The Evolution of Online Antisemitism Since October 7 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.

i24 NewsIran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.

“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.

Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.

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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group

People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.

Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.

Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.

In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.

The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.

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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

i24 NewsIranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.

“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.

The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.

In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.

“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.

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