How can Israel deal with online hate, antisemitism? Social media stars speak out

• Published date: 08 March 2024
• Author: AMY KLEIN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

He even deleted his TikTok for a week. "We were disappointed in how the systems were failing us," he said

Back in November, Bernath was one of 40 Jewish influencers and celebrities like Sacha Baron Cohen to criticize TikTok for its failure to moderate hateful content on its platform.

This week he was one of a number of social media influencers talking about "Voices Against Antisemitism: Influencers Shaping Change," at ADL's "Never Is Now" conference against antisemitism in New York. The influencers on the panel have audiences of 30 million people.

While many people are fighting an actual war, influencers are fighting a war online (and in their real lives).

"How have the platforms failed Jewish creators?" Bernath asked.

"I've experienced antisemitism online and in my actual life – not just online," Orthodox influencer Miriam Ezagui (1.9 million followers on TikTok) said, noting that she's had to contact the FBI.

On Instagram, she got a comment: "Fun fact: I hate Jews. You all have this evil look emanating from your eyes, it's scary." She reported it, then Instagram flagged her account and demonetized it. "I'm trying to bring more awareness to antisemitism Jewish people face every day... it feels like it's accepted by society and not condoned. It's not right. We need to stand up and advocate for ourselves."

Ariel Martin, aka "Baby Ariel," with 34.6 million followers on TikTok, has fought against cyberbullying since she was 14, but she was unprepared for the anti-Israel and antisemitic vitriol on her account after she posted anything about Jews, Israel, or the hostages.

"It was such an insane amount of hate," she said at the panel.

In a TikTok interview of Rachel Goldberg, mother of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, commenters wrote: "I hate you," "but you guys kill innocent children daily," "Zionists are terrorists," etc.

When Martin posted a TikTok this week, she said in her video: "But I urge you to be more intentional with your words and to take two seconds before making a video or commenting, and ask yourself, Is this going to help the antisemitism problem in the world?" If not, she said, "you probably shouldn't post it, or comment on it or like it."

Some are used to the hate

Some influencers are used to the online hate.

"When you make content and you get thousands of content every day, you get used to hate," YouTube star Nuseir Yassin, aka Nas Daily (13.1 million followers on YouTube) said.

"The average human brain is used to 150 friends; then you have...