Hate pays off: Antisemitic clips go viral 7 times more often

Antisemitic clips on social media platforms go viral almost 7 times more frequently than other clips, according to a research report published on Tuesday by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM). The high virality of this content gives influencers an incentive to film and share antisemitic material, regardless of their personal views toward Jews.

"For years, we understood online antisemitism through coordinated campaigns and bad actors," said Oliver Marks, a research fellow at the CAM Institute for the Study of Antisemitism. "However, our new research suggests that this model alone is insufficient. A growing share of online antisemitism is not a product of genuine belief, but a byproduct of an attention economy that rewards what performs well. When antisemitic content reliably brings views and shares, people have a tendency to post it. Not because they believe in it, but because it is what works."

The research focuses on clips—short segments from long live streams by streamers on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube—which are edited and redistributed by social media channels. For the study, clips published between June 14 and July 14 on five major Instagram channels that redistribute content from leading streamers such as Seako, Myron Gaines, and Adin Ross were analyzed. A total of 1,960 clips with 5,000 or more views were analyzed and coded binarily (antisemitic/not antisemitic).

Viral clips were defined as those among the 15 most-viewed videos of the channels during the study period, totaling 75 videos. Of all the clips analyzed, 4.7% were coded as antisemitic. However, among the 75 viral videos, 32% were coded as antisemitic—6.8 times higher than their share in the total pool of videos.

"Antisemitic content is created and repurposed because it performs well," the report stated. "The accounts themselves often do not present an ideological position, and as a result, standard identification methods are mostly ineffective. In an ecosystem where clicks equal money, antisemitism has become a reliable investment."

According to the report, the popularity of antisemitic content in clips relies on three factors:

• Ease of creation: clips require only minimal editing skills—selecting a moment with viral potential from an existing livestream, cutting it, and reposting it.

• Deflection of criticism: the content is attributed to the streamer who filmed it, not the channel operator who edited and distributed it, so any backlash is directed at the source.

• Lack of personal accountability: "The antisemitic views are expressed by the streamer and not by the redistributor. This creates a psychological buffer between the person profiting from the content and the content itself, wide enough to publish hate content and still, in their own eyes, be just a bystander," the report noted.

CAM CEO Sacha Roytman added: "The dramatic findings prove that hatred on social networks has become a full-fledged business model. Tech giants are effectively incentivizing the spread of antisemitic poison, as their algorithms prioritize extremist content. We demand that companies take immediate responsibility, change their algorithmic recommendation mechanisms, and stop the economic orchestration of online hatred."