New Poll Reveals How Deep Online Hate Is. Here’s How to Fight It | Opinion

The United States has long been regarded as a safe harbor for Jews because of our country’s commitment to democracy and our values of individual rights, liberty, and equality. In this environment, Jewish communities have been able to grow and thrive. But today, extremism and division are tearing at the fabric of our society.

Antisemitism has become so pervasive that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of American Jews feel less secure than a year ago. A full 90 percent say that antisemitism has increased in the U.S. following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack against Israel. More than one-third (35 percent) of American Jewish college students report experiencing antisemitism at least once during their time on campus.

And the threat to our democratic values goes beyond the experience of American Jews. One-in-five U.S. adults believe Hamas—an internationally recognized terror organization—is a militant resistance group working primarily in the best interest of the Palestinian people. With nearly four-in-10 U.S. adults saying that the information they see online and on social media platforms informs their views on the Israel-Hamas War, the threat of misinformation is on full display.

These are all findings from American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) newly released State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report and should be a wakeup call for all of us.

For years, I have seen how Jew-hatred is spreading across the country and around the world—and have worked with others in the Jewish community and my former colleagues in Congress to sound the alarm and act to combat this scourge, but the challenges before us now are unlike any we’ve seen before.

We are seeing increasing division as people refuse to engage with or even speak with those with whom they disagree. We hear politicians painting their opponents as enemies rather than peers in service. We know that American society is losing faith in our institutions. According to AJC’s report, a large majority of Americans—66 percent of U.S. adults and 72 percent of American Jews—have less trust in the way our democracy is functioning compared to five years ago.

Increases in antisemitism are often associated with a rise in general polarization and division and are indicative of broader threats to democracy. Hate and extremism thrive in these environments where they feed off distrust—and vice-versa. It’s a negative feedback loop that puts us all in danger.

As more and more people turn to social media, for both news and entertainment, Americans are getting stuck in the ultimate echo chamber (what tech companies call an algorithm) that only furthers division and othering. The majority of Americans—both Jews and the general public—who see antisemitism see it on social media. Roughly seven in 10 Jewish adults have reported experiencing antisemitism online or on social media. It’s even worse for Jewish adults under the age of 30, my children among them, with 83 percent reporting experiencing antisemitism online and on social media. Likewise, 70 percent of U.S. adults who witnessed antisemitism in the last 12 months saw it online or on social media. The digital vitriol is so threatening that 34 percent of Jews who reported feeling physically threatened by antisemitism online have considered leaving the U.S. in the last year.

AJC works with numerous social media and tech platforms to try to tamp down on online hate—and while many have taken proactive steps to address our concerns, more must be done. Relying on these companies is not enough. Major platforms have recently announced that they are abandoning automatic content moderation and are instead relying on user reports. Putting greater responsibility on users does not absolve platforms of their responsibility, especially since a majority of American Jews do not report the antisemitism they experience online or on social media because they feel that nothing is being done.

The platforms must clearly demonstrate to the public and lawmakers how they are and will be enforcing their policies to keep users safe and that they take user reports of online hate seriously. Once content is flagged as antisemitic, what happens? Who is reviewing this content? These moderators must understand all the different manifestations of antisemitism—the various tropes, terms, historical contexts, and how it is showing up today. This is part of the work AJC is doing with these companies, providing resources and training so that the more subtle, but just as nefarious, content is understood to be as harmful as it is.

Congress also has a clear role to play and must hold social media companies accountable for the spread of antisemitic and hate-fueled violence—including support for terrorism—on their platforms. Fundamental reforms to the controversial Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act are overdue. The argument that these social media companies are merely digital bulletin boards in a virtual public square falls on deaf ears when their bottom lines directly benefit from algorithms that promote provocative content. Modernizing this law—which was first written in 1996—to recognize the active role platforms play in what type of content is viewed on their platform is a key step in countering antisemitism online.

And while the problem is largely visible on social media, we cannot only address it there. As increasing extremism erodes the fabric of our communities, it is up to all of us to both preserve democracy and fight antisemitism in the United States and around the world. We need to see action from our schools—at all levels of education—to create learning environments where every student is safe and supported and antisemitism is not normalized in any form. We need to see bipartisan work to improve hate crimes reporting and training on antisemitism for law enforcement. We need entrepreneurs and CEOs to refuse to tolerate any bigotry in their businesses, no matter their size.

If we, as a country, do not unite and act, the forces of extremism and polarization that we are seeing across American society and across the political spectrum can and will erode the fabric of our democracy. We must push back against these trends, urgently and forcefully.

Ted Deutch, a former congressman from Florida who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, is CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.