Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of social media platforms and their role in Jewish life.
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Culture Here’s one big reason why online antisemitism and extremism are so hard to stop
TikTok is no stranger to antisemitic trends, from teens pretending to be Holocaust victims arriving at the gates of heaven to videos of face-distorting filters set to “Hava Nagila.” Some comments on posts by or about Jews make light of the Holocaust or say that Hitler “missed one.” But antisemitism is only one form of…
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Culture Facebook has a new prayer feature. But is it made for Jews?
After her daughter was killed in a drive-by shooting earlier this year and her son began using drugs to cope with the pain, one mother was overwhelmed. Unsure what to do or how to help, she posted about it on Wednesday in “PRAYER WARRIORS,” a Christian Facebook group with over 827 thousand members, requesting prayers…
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Culture Wikipedia fixed its swastika problem fast. Why can’t anyone else?
Hate speech is notoriously hard to police online, and nearly every major social media platform has been criticized in the recent past for allowing disinformation and hate to proliferate on their platforms. Wikipedia, meanwhile, got a hacker’s swastikas off of its site in under five minutes. On Monday morning, a Wikipedia template was vandalized, impacting…
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Fast Forward Mark Zuckerberg shared a photo of his dog wearing a yarmulke. He was ‘inundated’ with antisemitic comments.
(JTA) — Not even the CEO of Facebook’s dog is immune to online antisemitism. Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo to his platform of his family pet — a Hungarian sheepdog named Beast — wearing a yarmulke and a canine-sized tallit, or Jewish prayer shawl, on Tuesday. The post was quickly inundated with comments, most of…
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News The Jewish trans Mexican TikTok star you need to know
This article originally appeared on Alma. I spend way too much time scrolling through the endless loop of viral challenges and 60-second dance videos on TikTok (don’t ask me why). It was during one of those daily scrolls that I came across Hadassah Tirosh’s page. I’d be lying if I said her Jewish-sounding name wasn’t…
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News Antisemitism on TikTok spiked 912% says a new study. But is it accurate?
It’s no secret that antisemitism runs rampant on TikTok, the viral video sharing app. And yet when a recently released study from the University of Haifa showed a 912% increase in antisemitism on the app since 2020, the size of the spike seemed shocking. I’ve reported on TikTok for months, both on its inventive Jewish…
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Culture Tavi Gevinson was the first influencer. On ‘Gossip Girl,’ she’s facing the consequences.
“Gossip Girl” is supposed to be a show about wealthy, terrible teens cheating on each other and being awful to service workers. But in the new version of “Gossip Girl,” the teachers are the center of attention. They run the Gossip Girl Instagram account, they blackmail their students and they’re even — problematically — at…
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Culture These Facebook groups help writers find jobs — and Jews who discuss Israel are being kicked out
Binder groups — a secretive network of Facebook communities to help writers who aren’t cisgender men find writing jobs — are supposed to be safe spaces. But recently, Jews have been feeling as though they’ve become just as unwelcome as men. In the last few weeks, one group with approximately 12,300 members, Binders Full of…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Rep. Ritchie Torres, outspoken pro-Israel advocate, is dropping hints that he could run for NY governor
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Fast Forward Ursula Haverbeck, infamous German Holocaust denier known as ‘Nazi grandma,’ dies at 96
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Fast Forward A Jewish museum in Tulsa held a funeral for remains of Holocaust victims it kept for years
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Sports Texas A&M’s Sam Salz cherishes his first taste of DI college football — and the opportunity to inspire fellow Orthodox Jews
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