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The Impact of Antisemitic Content and Hate Speech on Social Media on Young Jewish Social Media Users
Author(s): Czymmek, Quint
Editor(s): Hübscher, Monika; Von Mering, Sabine
Date: 2022
Topics: Social Media, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Online, Jewish Perceptions of Antisemitism
Abstract: Studies show that the amount of antisemitic content on social media is constantly increasing, and that Jews encounter antisemitism most directly on social platforms. For this chapter, three Jewish social media users were interviewed about their experience with and their reactions toward antisemitism on social networks. It shows how the respondents make use of social networks and analyze respondents’ answers about the forms of antisemitism they experience, where they encounter antisemitism, and which counter-strategies they use. This research shows that – depending on their usage of social media platforms – the respondents experience a lot of antisemitism in different forms and on different occasions. The article finds that the respondents develop strategies to avoid antisemitism by hiding their Jewish identity and by censoring their social media activities.
Antisemitic Narratives on YouTube and Telegram as Part of Conspiracy Beliefs about COVID-19
Author(s): Gunz, Hendrik; Schaller, Isa
Editor(s): Hübscher, Monika; Von Mering, Sabine
Date: 2022
Topics: Social Media, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Online, Internet, Antisemitism: Discourse, Discourse and Discourse Analysis, Antisemitism: Far right, Coronavirus/Covid, Conspiracies
Abstract: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a vocal protest scene emerged in Germany. Comparisons to Nazi-Germany, conspiracy topoi, and antisemitic narratives were its prominent companions – on the streets as well as on social media. One former vegan chef and b-lister became a well-known agitator, culminating in multiple threats to people in public life and blatant, Holocaust-denying antisemitism. This chapter analyzes the development of Attila Hildmann’s conspiracist and antisemitic escalation toward a “superconspiracy” (Barkun) using a mixed-methods approach. This antisemitic escalation begins with conspiracist narratives and a personalized concept of enemy (predominantly Bill Gates) and moves through prevalent conspiracist themes with antisemitic implications to outright promotion of violence. In the process, implicitly antisemitic references are replaced with open antisemitism. The results confirm that video hosting services and the messenger Telegram are not only important for mobilizing protests, but are also an important resource for analyzing antisemitism in its various forms. This work also proves that a combination of a hermeneutical approach and frequency analysis on multiple platforms is useful for analyzing enormous amounts of diverse data, and for contextualizing the characteristics of narrative structures of conspiracy beliefs.
Attacks on Democracy? A Troll-Attack on YouTube
Author(s): Hübscher, Monika; Walter, Vanessa
Editor(s): Hübscher, Monika; Von Mering, Sabine
Date: 2022
Topics: Social Media, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Online, Internet, Antisemitism: Discourse, Discourse and Discourse Analysis
Abstract: A recent incident of antisemitic trolling in Germany provides the basis for the analysis of methods and goals of antisemitic trolling through a combination of qualitative discourse analysis and digital textual analysis with the help of the digital tool suite Voyant. The analysis is based on a case study that the authors of this chapter witnessed live. At the online event of the Kompetenzzentrum gegen Antisemitismus und Rechtsextremismus. Angriffe auf die Demokratie [Competence Center Against Antisemitism and Right-Wing Extremism. Attacks on Democracy] on September 16–17, 2020, trolls aggressively disrupted the associated YouTube live chat with antisemitic messages. The analysis of the chat messages from this event carried out here examines the extent to which the trolls used various antisemitic topoi to shift the discourse in the YouTube Live Chat to ultimately delegitimize the event.
“Everyone I know Isn't Antisemitic” Antisemitism in Facebook Pages Supportive of the UK Labour Party 1
Author(s): Guhl, Jakob
Editor(s): Hübscher, Monika; Von Mering, Sabine
Date: 2022
Topics: Social Media, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Online, Antisemitism: Left-Wing, Political Parties
Abstract: Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as the leader of the Labour Party in September 2015, there have been major public debates relating to concerns about antisemitism in the UK Labour Party. Social media dynamics were often at the center of these discussions, but there has been little systematic, large-scale analysis of the phenomenon. This article analyzes left-wing antisemitism within public Facebook pages supportive of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom between 2015 and 2019. It finds that while none of the posts with the sample analyzed by the party pages themselves were clearly antisemitic, 56% of all comment sections contained at least one, and in the majority of cases more than one antisemitic comment, and that in 59% of the cases these comments went unchallenged. This does show that while online antisemitism within pro-Labour communities is relatively small in volume, it remains easily accessible and is not always called out.
Tertiary Antisemitism in Social Media Posts of Germany's Alternative für Deutschland
Author(s): Schmalenberger, Sophie; Hübscher, Monika
Editor(s): Hübscher, Monika; Von Mering, Sabine
Date: 2022
Topics: Antisemitism: Far right, Antisemitism: Discourse, Antisemitism: Definitions, Social Media, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Online
Abstract: This chapter analyzes social media posts of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe on May 8, 2020. With the help of the mixed-methods software MaxQDA we developed a code system that identifies antisemitic cues. As a result of our analysis, we formulate a definition of tertiary antisemitism to extend the established concepts of primary and secondary antisemitism. In our research we find that the AfD uses social media strategically to communicate a revisionist interpretation of World War II and the Holocaust by employing antisemitic cues, rather than explicit expressions of antisemitism. Further we identify four rhetorical strategies present in the AfD’s social media communication that normalize, mainstream, and vindicate antisemitism.