Narratives of Hate: Post-7 October Antisemitism and Anti-Muslim Hate on Social Media is an excellent new report by ISD (Institute for Strategic Dialogue), penned by Hannah Rose and Paula-Charlotte Matlach.
The report’s description notes,
As news of the 7 October Hamas attack reached social media, online hate began to surge before official accounts could provide clear details. This report identifies and analyses both antisemitic and anti-Muslim narratives about the conflict, using automated hate speech detection software to track trends over time in YouTube comments. This analysis identifies the themes and sub-themes which comprised and drove the surge of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate between October and December 2023. It aims to both evidence the targeting of communities on mainstream platforms, and inform countermeasures, ranging from government and law enforcement strategies to civil society interventions.
Based on the research, and analysis I conduct, the Disinformation Project (TDP)’s late-2023 white paper titled ‘Opportunism and Polarisation: Presentation of the violence in Israel and Palestine by Aotearoa disinformation networks’ anticipated many of the key disinformation dynamics, trends, threats, and risks around the Israel-Hamas war that are comprehensively evidenced in ISD’s report.
Both reports paint an alarming picture of online spaces being weaponised to spread hate during a crisis, with grave implications globally, for what was even before 7 October an evaporating social cohesion in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Both reports highlight how the Israel-Hamas conflict is being exploited to spread existing hateful, and harmful narratives, including conspiracy theories, rather than generating fundamentally new ones. The ISD report found the vast majority of antisemitic and anti-Muslim themes were well-established tropes just repackaged in the context of the war. Similarly, TDP’s white paper noted the conflict was used as a “jumping-off point” to promote pre-existing extremist ideologies, and worldviews including, but not limited to racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE).
- The reports emphasise the role of social media in enabling the rapid, transnational spread of disinformation, graphic violence, and polarising content related to the war. TDP extensively examined the cross-platform dissemination of content, while ISD analysed specific antisemitic and anti-Muslim narratives on just YouTube. Both underscore how geographic barriers are completely erased online.
- Far-right exploitation of the crisis to spread hate is a major theme. ISD found neo-Nazi communities appropriating pro-Palestinian stances to promote antisemitism, and not out of any genuine concern for Palestinians. TDP’s research also found exactly this, and flagged how domestic, and transnational far-right actors were leveraging social volatility, and instrumentalising vulnerability to advance white nationalist ideologies through performative allyship.
- Both reports warn the online hate could fuel offline violence against minority communities, and identities. ISD raises risks to Jewish and Muslim communities as the war progresses, while TDP’s research captures similar concerns, pegged to Aotearoa New Zealand, given the nature, and nurture of highly inflammatory disinformation spreading unchecked.
- The need for a collaborative, multi-stakeholder response is emphasised. ISD recommends using its findings to inform prevention/education measures and build counter-narratives, while TDP advocates for an ‘all-of-society’ approach spanning government, civil society, and communities to mitigate risk, identify threats, and build resilience.
TDP’s report ended with New Zealand specific recommendations to address what the research highlighted, and, in fact, has worsened, even as the government has systematically defunded key institutions, and dismissed critical human resources needed to address threats to social cohesion, and national security.
Sanjana Hattotuwa 