Social media platforms reward antisemitic content with profits and engagement

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Antisemitism has always adapted to its surroundings. Today, it has adapted to the digital economy.

What once circulated through fringe pamphlets or isolated gatherings now thrives online, in an environment where outrage is rewarded, provocation is amplified and attention can be monetized. Antisemitism is no longer just spreading. In many cases, it is being incentivized.

In the modern attention economy, clicks equal currency. Algorithms are designed to reward engagement, not accuracy or morality. Content that shocks or enrages travels farther and faster, and antisemitic material, unfortunately, performs well in that system. The result is not only broader exposure to hate, but a set of financial incentives that sustain and accelerate it.

ANTISEMITISM IS BECOMING 'NORMAL,' WITH JEWISH TEENS PAYING THE PRICE

A protester burns an Israeli flag in New York City, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. (Stephen Yang for Fox News Digital)

We saw this dynamic recently in Miami Beach, where videos circulated online of influencers singing Nazi slogans and performing salutes, first in a limousine and later inside a nightclub. They laughed, played to the cameras, fully aware they were being recorded and without a hint of shame.

The episode spread widely because it was inflammatory. In today’s digital ecosystem, outrage fuels visibility. Visibility drives traffic. Traffic brings revenue. Antisemitism becomes content and content becomes cash.

Social media influencers are monetizing antisemitism. (CyberGuy.com)

Extremist figures understand this well. For some, antisemitism is strategic. Provocation drives attention. Attention drives donations, subscriptions, merchandise sales and influence. In these cases, hate is not just ideology. It is a business model.

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What once existed on the fringes now operates openly on mainstream platforms, supported by systems that reward engagement without evaluating consequences.

When hate becomes profitable, behavior changes.

Repetition normalizes rhetoric that once would have triggered immediate alarm. Over time, the presence of money dulls moral resistance. If content is rewarded, it can begin to feel acceptable, or at least tolerable.

Antisemitic graffiti defaces Israeli-American Council HQ. (The Israeli-American Council (IAC) national headquarters in Los Angeles)

This is where the danger lies, not only for Jewish communities but for society more broadly. Antisemitism has become embedded in a digital economy that prioritizes virality over responsibility and profit over principle.

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Too often, responses treat antisemitism as a content moderation problem alone. That misses the larger issue. As long as platforms profit from engagement regardless of substance, hateful material will continue to surface. As long as advertisers fail to scrutinize where their dollars appear, they risk indirectly funding extremism. And as long as policymakers avoid examining how existing incentives function, the cycle will persist.

The consequences do not remain online. Normalization in digital spaces spills into real life, into campuses, public venues, workplaces and neighborhoods that once assumed they were insulated by geography or diversity. The rhetoric that circulates online does not stay there.

At Boundless, we work to help leaders and communities understand and confront modern antisemitism. Increasingly, that work requires grappling with a reality where economics and extremism intersect. This is not about censoring speech. It is about recognizing and dismantling systems that reward division financially.

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Hate should never be a revenue stream. Until we address the incentives that allow antisemitism to thrive, we will keep treating symptoms while ignoring causes. This is about the integrity of our public square, and whether we are willing to say, clearly and collectively, that some things are not for sale.

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