This is the Forward’s coverage of social media platforms and their role in Jewish life.
Social Media
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Culture No, Senator Blumenthal, the problem is much bigger than finstas
“Will you commit to ending finsta?” Senator Richard Blumenthal asked Facebook’s Head of Global Safety, Antigone Davis, at Thursday’s hearing on the risks Instagram poses to teenagers. Finsta, short for “fake Instagram” is slang for a category of private Instagram accounts users turn to for a variety of purposes — evading parental oversight, posting stupid…
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Culture Uh-oh, there’s a new dating app for Jewish moms (and I asked my mom to help me with my profile)
There’s no shortage of Jewish dating apps and sites, but a new one is in the works, sure to be every Jewish mother’s dream — and every Jewish kid’s nightmare. JustKibbitz, which recently launched, allows parents to make the profile for their kids, do the swiping, choose matches and even pay for dates with gift…
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Culture Is Facebook biased against Palestinians?
During the most recent Gaza conflagration, both Israelis and Palestinians hurled accusations of censorship at social media giants, including Facebook and Instagram. Palestinians said that their posts about Israeli soldiers entering the al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem were disappearing without even a warning, and so were other posts accusing Israel of violence. Meanwhile, Israeli influencers…
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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 Meet the Jews who helped elect Zohran Mamdani
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Fast Forward Calling itself ‘MechaHitler,’ Elon Musk’s AI tool spreads antisemitic conspiracies
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Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
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Fast Forward For the Jewish community in central Texas, deadly flooding hits close to home
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Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
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Looking Forward A handcrafted Torah ark perished in the L.A. wildfires. Another was seeking a new home.
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Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
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Opinion I’m a Zionist Democrat. Mamdani has me asking if I must choose between my ideals and identity
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