The call usually comes from the mom of a teenage son. Two years ago, he played soccer and argued about video games. Now he darkly obsesses about Jews the way an addict thinks about the next fix.
Parents for Peace operates a confidential national helpline and over the last decade has worked with hundreds of families across the ideological spectrum, all with remarkably similar stories.
Their loved ones who got out describe it plainly. Former neo-Nazis, one-time jihadists, and other ex-extremists say the hate they left behind was a narcotic.
Antisemitism is the form they gave to grievance, and the promise of satisfying it activated the same reward pathway that substances did. And as users continued their journey through addiction, the doses, as with every drug, had to be increased to maintain the same effect.
For many experiencing pain, isolation, insecurity, or loss of control, scapegoating Jews offers a simple explanation and a clearly defined source of blame. It becomes a way to avoid the more difficult work of understanding one’s own distress, addressing unmet needs, and taking responsibility for personal or social problems.
But this coping mechanism is harmful to everyone involved. It dehumanizes Jews and exposes them to real threats, while deepening the fear, anger, and distorted thinking of the person dependent on it. In this way, it is a lose-lose cycle, one that requires intervention, support, and an alternative path toward belonging and meaning.
The social media platforms where young people spend so much of their time, however, serve as dealers of antisemitic hate, providing it directly to mass audiences, even those who are not seeking it. This is known because the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) tested it.
In June, CAM researchers set up two Instagram accounts, one focused on wellness and biohacking and the other on fitness and physical discipline. Both accounts followed only mainstream users who created content related to their subjects of interest. The purpose of the three-day experiment was to find out what content the platform pushed to the accounts.
Coded antisemitic content reached the wellness account during its initial 45-minute session, before the account had established any meaningful history. By the end of the third day, 32 percent of all content delivered to the wellness account was antisemitic. For the fitness account, 24 percent was coded or explicit antisemitism, including translated Nazi propaganda.
CAM published its full dataset so that anyone can check its findings, a standard the platforms themselves have never met when outside researchers have requested information. The most damning finding from the study was that both accounts were directed to land in the same place — antisemitism. Two accounts with separate origins and interests, with no contact between them, were routed to the same toxic narratives, and in several cases the same videos.
This convergence suggests that the problem isn’t with a few bad online communities that promote antisemitism. Rather, it is the architecture of the platforms themselves.
Why are social media companies driving antisemitic content to users? A separate CAM study from last month added further insights.
CAM found that antisemitic content flourished in Instagram’s extremely competitive “clip economy.” Clips featuring antisemitic content were nearly seven times more likely to go viral than comparable material without the antisemitic themes. In short, antisemitism drives traffic and is rewarded by platform algorithms.
And here’s where the addiction to antisemitism intersects with social media’s business model. The platforms are built to keep users engaged — and the more compulsively they’re engaged, the better it is for the platform. And, as CAM’s research has shown, antisemitic content is intoxicatingly engaging. That spells danger for American families.
Pew Research found that 36 percent of American teenagers used at least one major platform almost constantly — Instagram, or TikTok, or YouTube, which draws nearly 75% of American kids every single day. America’s rising generation is living inside a feed — an endless loop that profits by getting them hooked on inflammatory content.
Antisemitism is the fuel this machine burns best, because it is the oldest conspiracy theory in the world, a comprehensive narrative explaining what’s wrong with the world, and who wronged you in particular.
Of course, programmers and tech executives didn’t set out to design it this way — but by joining together two addictions, one to antisemitism and another to social media, we have a national emergency on our hands. At the same time the U.S. government funds programs to counter violent extremism, the tech sector is mass manufacturing it.
We are calling on social media platforms to take responsibility for the content they provide. It doesn’t abridge anyone’s First Amendment rights to demand private companies stop amplifying glorification and incitement of violence that endangers lives.
No platform is obliged to turn a blind eye to extremist content, let alone push it on users who never asked for it.