K O D I K A S / C O D E Volume 42 (2019) · No. 2 - 4 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen Manipulation of Symbols: Holocaust Denial and Distortion on Social Media Platforms After the October 7 Massacre in Israel Gunther Jikeli (Bloomington, Indiana) “ Mal nommer un objet, c ’ est ajouter au malheur de ce monde ” (To misname an object is to add to the misery of this world.) Albert Camus 1944 Abstract: The denial or relativization of the Holocaust attempts to reinterpret the term “ Holocaust ” . The signifier “ Holocaust ” is manipulated and reinterpreted and can even be used to call for violence against Jews. This is evidenced empirically in social media discussions. We investigated Holocaust-related content on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), Truth Social, Gab and 4chan in October 2023 and how social media providers handled Holocaust-related search queries. While some of the larger platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok use algorithms that do not prominently display Holocaust denials and relativizations, users regularly find Holocaust denials and relativizations when searching for the signifier “ Holocaust ” on platforms such as X and Truth Social. Gab and 4chan have an even higher proportion of antisemitic and Holocaust denial messages. Our study shows that after the Hamas pogrom in Israel in October 2023, references to the Holocaust were used to accuse Israel of genocide and incite violence against Jews. In addition, the signifier “ Holocaust ” was often instrumentalized to attack political opponents, changing its meaning. Keywords: Holocaust denial, Holocaust distortion, antisemitism, social media, 10/ 7 Zusammenfassung: Mit der Leugnung oder Relativierung des Holocaust wird versucht, den Begriff “ Holocaust ” umzudeuten. Der Signifikant “ Holocaust ” wird manipuliert und umgedeutet und kann sogar zum Aufruf zur Gewalt gegen Juden verwendet werden. Dies lässt sich empirisch an Diskussionen auf sozialen Medien nachweisen. Wir untersuchten Holocaust-bezogene Inhalte auf Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X (früher Twitter), Truth Social, Gab und 4chan im Oktober 2023 und den Umgang von Anbietern sozialer Medien mit Suchanfragen zum Thema Holocaust. Während einige der größeren Plattformen wie Facebook, YouTube und TikTok Algorithmen verwenden, die Holocaustleugnungen und -relativierungen nicht an prominenter Stelle zeigen, finden Benutzer bei Suchanfragen zu dem Signifkanten “ Holocaust ” auf Plattformen wie X und Truth Social regelmäßig Holocaustleugnungen und -relativierungen. Gab und 4chan weisen einen noch größeren Anteil an antisemitischen und Holocaustleugnenden Nachrichten auf. Unsere Studie zeigt, dass nach dem Pogrom der Hamas in Israel im Oktober 2023 Verweise auf den Holocaust verwendet wurden, um Israel des Völkermords zu beschuldigen und zu Gewalt gegen Juden aufzurufen. Außerdem wurde der Signifikant “ Holocaust ” häufig instrumentalisiert, um politische Gegner anzugreifen, wodurch seine Bedeutung verändert wurde. Schlüsselbegriffe: Holocaustleugnung, Holocaustrelativierung, Antisemitismus, Soziale Medien, 10/ 7 1 Holocaust Distortion and Denial - Banned from Social Media Platforms? Holocaust denial serves as a profound signifier of antisemitism. The Holocaust, with its well-documented narrative and countless testimonies from survivors, is an undeniable historical reality. Denial of this event, therefore, not only disrespects the victims but also implicitly accuses them of falsehood, making it a symbolic act of maligning their experiences. Moreover, the existence of comprehensive documentation, research centers, and education initiatives about the Holocaust around the world represent symbols of collective remembrance and learning. Their existence needs to be explained by Holocaust deniers through conspiracy theories. Jews are then accused of having invented the Holocaust and of using Holocaust remembrance for nefarious purposes, which is another antisemitic accusation. Holocaust denial operates not just as misinformation but as a coded language of antisemitism. It appropriates historical evidence and survivor narratives, distorting them into signs of deceit and manipulation. Holocaust denial can be defined as any attempt to claim that the Holocaust did not happen or that fundamental aspects of the Holocaust are untrue, such as the intent to commit genocide against Jews, the existence of gas chambers, or a significant minimization of the number of victims (Lipstadt 1993; Courouble-Share and Karmasyn 2023). Holocaust distortion can be seen as a softer form of Holocaust denial. In contrast to Holocaust denial, which rejects the meaning of the signifier (Holocaust), in Holocaust-relativizing comparisons the existence of the Holocaust is the basis of the argument. In comparisons, the meaning is accepted, but often manipulated to fit certain narratives and thus distorted. This shows how flexible and manipulable signs can be in the context of the Holocaust and Nazi history. However, the boundaries between the denial and distortion can be blurred. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance offers five examples of Holocaust distortion. 1) Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the Holocaust or its principal elements, including collaborators and allies of Nazi Germany; 2) Gross minimization of the number of the victims of the Holocaust in contradiction to reliable sources; 3) Attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide; 112 Gunther Jikeli 4) Statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event. Those statements are not Holocaust denial but are closely connected to it as a radical form of antisemitism. They may suggest that the Holocaust did not go far enough in accomplishing its goal of ‘ the Final Solution of the Jewish Question ’ ; and 5) Attempts to blur the responsibility for the establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi Germany by putting blame on other nations or ethnic groups ” (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance 2013). However, Holocaust denial can also be a form of minimizing the Holocaust by making inappropriate comparisons, claiming that some current events that do not come close to genocide are somehow “ the same ” as what happened during the Holocaust. This is facilitated by the fact that the Holocaust has become, for many, simply a symbol of all that is bad (Rosenfeld 2011). Mainstream social media platforms operating in Western countries have taken some voluntary measures to reduce hate speech, including antisemitism. After some pressure, YouTube pledged to take down videos that deny the Holocaust and other “ well documented violent events ” in the summer of 2019. (YouTube Team 2023) META updated its hate speech policy in October 2020 to “ prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust ” (Bickert 2020). TikTok followed suit a year later, promising to remove Holocaust denial and antisemitism from its platform (TikTok 2021). X ’ s (formerly Twitter) updated policy from April 2023 does not explicitly prohibit Holocaust denial but it prohibits the use of “ images altered to include hateful symbols or references to a mass murder that targeted a protected category, e. g., manipulating images of individuals to include yellow Star of David badges, in reference to the Holocaust ” (X 2023). Truth Social does not ban Holocaust denial explicitly but its terms of service prohibit “ obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable ” contributions and advocating or inciting, encouraging, or threatening physical harm (Truth Social 2023). Interestingly, 4chan, a platform that is notorious for racist content, says that users must not publish racist content (4chan 2023). Gab on the other hand says that “ the First Amendment remains the Website ’ s standard for content moderation ” and only illegal content is banned (Gab 2023). Internet regulation in the Western world is dominated by U. S. law and, to some extent, EU law and the laws of European and other countries. Section 230 of the U. S. Communication Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 is fundamentally important for all current business models. It provides immunity to online platforms from liability for user-generated content. It allows platforms to moderate content without being held responsible for what users post. The EU E- Commerce Directive of 2000 similarly provides liability relief for platform operators in most cases. They are only liable for illegal content if they have knowledge of the illegality of the content and if they remain inactive. However, they have no obligation “ to monitor the information which they transmit or store, nor a general obligation actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity ” (Official Journal of the European Communities 2000). The European Union Digital Services Act (DSA) of 2023 affects all businesses providing digital services to Europeans but stricter rules apply to very large platforms with at least 45 million monthly users. Platforms must implement ways to prevent and remove posts containing illegal goods, services, or content, including illegal hate speech as defined by other laws, which in some countries include Holocaust denial (Whine 2020; 2009). This Manipulation of Symbols 113 could help reduce illegal hate speech on social media, although it ’ s unclear what constitutes illegal hate speech and there are still no obligations for platforms to monitor hate speech content (Schroeder and Reider 2023). However, studies such as the “ History under Attack ” report published by UNESCO and the United Nations show that Holocaust denial is widespread on all major platforms. (UNESCO and United Nations 2022) And the Anti-Defamation League ’ s 2021 Online Holocaust Denial Report Card and its 2023 update show that platforms often fail to remove Holocaust denial content when reported by ordinary users (Anti-Defamation League (ADL) 2023a). Antisemitic content increased significantly in October 2023, including on mainstream platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, X/ Twitter, and TikTok, especially in comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One study found “ an over 50-fold increase in the absolute volume of antisemitic comments on YouTube videos about the Israel/ Palestine conflict, following Hamas ’ attacks ” (Rose, Guhl, and Comerford 2023). A study of discussions in comment sections of YouTube and Facebook profiles of major news outlets in the UK, France, and Germany found an alarmingly high percentage of comments celebrating, supporting, or justifying the Hamas terror attacks (Becker et al. 2023). The Anti- Defamation League reported a significant increase of antisemitism on X/ Twitter (Anti- Defamation League (ADL) 2023b). “ TikTok faces escalating accusations that it promotes pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel content, ” headlined the New York Times in mid-November (Maheshwari 2023). In our ongoing research on antisemitism on X/ Twitter, we have seen evidence that Holocaust distortion, i. e., minimizing the Holocaust or making inappropriate comparisons, was widespread even before the anti-Jewish mass violence by Hamas. Based on representative samples of data from the full Twitter archive and manual annotation of these samples (Jikeli and Soemer 2023), we found that more than five percent of all live tweets containing the word Jews in 2022 distorted the Holocaust. With more than 10 million tweets about Jews, this means that well over 500,000 messages in conversations about Jews on Twitter alone distorted the Holocaust in 2022. And that does not include messages that have been deleted. Not all of these distortions are clearly antisemitic, at least not according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance ’ s (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism which includes a narrow definition of Holocaust denial, excluding inappropriate comparisons. However, we used this definition for our annotation and found that about one-fifth of the antisemitic messages in conversations about Jews were Holocaustrelated. Holocaust distortions are thus an important part of today ’ s manifestations of antisemitism. 2 Methods While we know that Holocaust denial can be found on all platforms, we wanted to find out what users see when they search for references to the Holocaust on major and fringe platforms. What do platforms choose to show users when they search for information about the Holocaust? What kinds of narratives are being presented? 114 Gunther Jikeli We selected four major platforms, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), and three relatively small or fringe platforms, Truth Social, Gab, and 4chan. The latter two are known to be platforms populated by many far-right users, including neo-Nazis. As of October 2023, Facebook had reportedly 3030 million users, YouTube 2491 million, TikTok 1218, and X/ Twitter 666 million (We Are Social, DataReportal, and Meltwater 2023), It is estimated that Truth Social has 2 million (Woodward 2023), Gab about 4 million, 1 and 4chan 22 million users. 2 We used the search function of the platforms and searched for the term “ Holocaust. ” We conducted the searches with a fresh account, or without an account if possible, so that our queries would not be influenced by previous user history. We had planned to run the searches four times in October 2023, one week apart. This would allow us to see a trend over time. We started our searches on all platforms on Friday, October 6, 2023. However, after the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th, we decided to run the searches every day of that weekend and then every Saturday for the rest of the month. Thus, we searched for the term “ Holocaust ” on each platform on six days, October 6 - 8, 14, 21, and 28, 2023. We used the first 30 results that the search returned for each query. We manually reviewed 210 posts for each of the dates, for a total of 1260 posts across the seven platforms, describing our observations for each day and platform. In our analysis, we focused on forms of Holocaust denial and distortion. When we saw other forms of antisemitism including anti-Zionist forms of antisemitism, we focused on those with references to the Holocaust. 3 Results Most of the larger platforms use algorithms that returned mostly unbiased search results, i. e., posts from organizations that promote Holocaust remembrance (Facebook) or by displaying clips containing information about the Holocaust that were produced at least several months before October 7, 2023 (YouTube and TikTok). Some of the comments on these videos were more recent and some of them were antisemitic but the videos themselves were generally not. Search results on X/ Twitter and Truth Social, on the other hand, included mostly recent posts, and many of them were biased, including posts denying the Holocaust. The percentage of search results containing antisemitic and Holocaust denial messages was particularly high on Gab and 4chan. Gab and 4chan seem to use very simple algorithms to produce search results, displaying them in chronological order. The radicalism of antisemitic messages, including calls for violence, increased during the month of October. This is an indication that discussions about the Holocaust are now being used for an antisemitic mobilization, most openly on fringe platforms. The accusation that Israel is committing genocide or a “ Palestinian Holocaust ” is an important factor in the antisemitic emotionalization and mobilization. 1 https: / / www.eurekalert.org/ news-releases/ 924295 2 https: / / www.4chan.org/ press Manipulation of Symbols 115 3.1 October 6 On October 6, the day before the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians, the first 30 posts returned by searches on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube were all informational, mostly from organizations such as the United States Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, or the Shoah Foundation. In addition, Facebook and YouTube provided a link to informational websites before displaying search results. TikTok videos were shorter and tended to be less professional and more emotional than YouTube videos. YouTube provided a link to the Encyclopedia Britannica entry, and Facebook provided a link to aboutholocaust.org, a site created by the World Jewish Congress in partnership with UNESCO that provides basic facts about the Holocaust. Some TikTok videos included a link “ Learn the facts about the Holocaust, ” but the link was dead. X/ Twitter displayed accounts of organizations educating about the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Holocaust Educational Trust before displaying search results. However, among the videos returned by the YouTube search, the second most popular was a video by the satirical newspaper The Onion, which featured statements by Holocaust deniers responding to the question “ Why do you think the Holocaust never happened? ” It showed the absurdity of Holocaust deniers ’ arguments. The search on fringe platforms, on the other hand, yielded many posts denying the Holocaust. More than a third of the top 30 posts on Gab and 4chan openly denied the Holocaust or called for a second Holocaust. On 4chan, these included comments such as “ Why don ’ t Jews ever feel guilty about lying about the holocaust or about black people? Is it true that absolute power corrupts absolutely? ” and “ STOP DENYING THE HOLOCAUST it needs to happen. ” The Gab posts contained more references to news events than the 4chan posts, but Holocaust denial was just as overt, such as the comment “ Six is the favorite number of satan. Ask yourself, why do they prosecute anyone who questions the holocaust? Because it ’ s a LIE.! ! ! ” Holocaust deniers on Truth Social were only slightly more subtle, also appearing prominently in the first 30 search results. “ This is why it ’ s healthy to question the Holocaust, ” one user commented on his own post, “ Lies are important to combat, especially trauma inducing ones. You will gain peace of mind when you realize the monster under your bed was just a teddy bear the whole time. ” There were also comparisons between the Holocaust and the Holodomor, as well as the situation of Border Patrol agents on the southern U. S. border who are threatened by cartel rings, using references to the Holocaust to highlight issues that are important to many far-right users. On X/ Twitter, Holocaust denial was also present and overt, though relatively more subtle than in many of the posts on 4chan. Two of the top 30 search results included the argument that Jews forced Holocaust remembrance on American society. One said that “ America ’ s entire political discourse is shaped by the Holocaust ” and promoted a video by US neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes in which he railed against Holocaust remembrance and the Jewish media (Figure 1). The other tweet rejected the Holocaust denial label for “ disagreeing with any part of the Holocaust ” and pointed out that there are more Holocaust museums in the U. S. than museums about the genocide of Native Americans. The latter point was also made in a tweet by British politician George Galloway. 116 Gunther Jikeli Figure 1: Post on X/ Twitter 3.2 October 7 A day later, on October 7, 2023, when the news of the new war between Hamas and Israel had spread, we ran the same experiment. We got similar results to the previous day for YouTube, with most videos showing documentaries or testimonies of Holocaust survivors. TikTok had many personal videos, some of questionable quality or taste, including clips from movies like “ The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, ” but none of them denied the Holocaust. On Facebook, we found mostly posts from Holocaust museums and the Claims Conference that had been posted within the previous 10 days. On Gab, however, now two-thirds of the posts denied the Holocaust, including a video promoting well-known Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel. The posts that did not deny the Holocaust made some distasteful comparisons that diminished the Holocaust or endorsed the Holocaust. One post suggested that a flooded parking lot of Ferrari cars was worse than the Holocaust because of the damage to the cars. We also found an endorsement of the Hamas massacre and the Holocaust. “ 5,999,700 to go until we ’ re onto holocaust part 2! ” , commented one user on the news at the time that the reported Israeli death toll in the pogrom had risen to 300 (Figure 2). Another user blamed Jews for the pandemic under the headline “ Covid Jab Holocaust. ” The results on 4chan were similar to the day before. None of the messages commemorated the Holocaust, the majority denied the Holocaust, and none expressed any sympathy for Jewish victims. A search of Holocaust-related posts on Truth Social also included many of the posts from the previous day ’ s search results, nearly half of the posts denied or questioned the Holocaust. On X, the above two messages from the October 6 search of relatively subtle Holocaust denial were still in the top 30 results. The first message that appeared attacked Israel and claimed “ One Holocaust does not justify another Holocaust, ” referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Figure 3). A similarly anti-Israel post came from the account Torah Judaism. The account, with 164k followers, is from a radical anti-Zionist group of Orthodox Jews, that is often cited by users seeking to vilify Israel. The tweet read: “ Our grandfathers did not die so that you Zionists could easily kill people in Palestine. ” However, there were also many tweets calling out Holocaust denial, and a few posts commemorating aspects of the Holocaust, such as a post by Anthony Blinken commemorating the Babyn Yar massacre. Manipulation of Symbols 117 Figure 2: Post on Gab Figure 3: Post on X/ Twitter 3.3 October 8 On October 8, 2023, searches on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube yielded posts that were very similar to the previous days, with no reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On X, on the other hand, many posts referred to the kidnapping of a Holocaust survivor by Hamas or pointed out that Hamas terror was inflicting unprecedented suffering on Jewish civilians not seen since the Holocaust. But there were also virulently anti-Israel posts. One user responded to Bernie Sander ’ s condemnation of Hamas and Islamic Jihad violence by accusing him of “ condoning another Holocaust ” and accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide against the Palestinians. Unrelated to the conflict, there were Holocaust denial messages, including the 2015 video “ The Holocaust Debunked Once and For All, ” and a white nationalist user mocking the Holocaust with a clip from a video of a Holocaust survivor. The results on Gab were dominated by posts of an article from the far-right fake news site The Gateway Pundit accusing the Biden administration of supporting terrorism by giving Iran $6 billion. However, the top 30 posts returned by the search still included at least eight messages denying the Holocaust and three endorsing the killing of Israeli civilians or making fun of the massacre, in addition to messages of antisemitic conspiracy theories. One user claimed that the Hamas attack was orchestrated by the Israeli Prime Minister “ to create an excuse for the mass slaughter of the Palestinian people. ” Another post, unrelated to the Hamas massacre, called for an end to the “ Covid-Holocaust. ” Holocaust-related conversations on Truth Social were largely influenced by the Hamas attack, either in reference to the Holocaust survivor hostage or the severity of the attack, which reminded users of the Holocaust. However, at least five messages contained some form of Holocaust denial, one made fun of the Holocaust, and another made an 118 Gunther Jikeli inappropriate comparison between the Holocaust and the allegedly murderous hospital system in the United States. A search on 4chan again yielded many Holocaust denial posts in the top 30 results. Three posts related to the Hamas attack, none of them sympathetic to the Israelis. One read in capital letters, “ Backed into a corner, the Zionist entity will create a nuclear Holocaust to take the whole planet down with them. ” To which another user replied, “ [ … ] this will be the last straw. You would see normies actually advocate for a holocaust (a real one) ” . Hamas ’ s war against Israel seems to be a factor in the radicalization of white nationalists. Another user responded to the question of what radicalized him by saying, “ The Gaza bombings of 2008. Until this point, the only thing I knew about kikes was that they were expelled from Egypt and the holocaust. It started with a few Wikipedia pages and articles, but I fell into the kike rabbit hole. I still haven ’ t reached the bottom. ” But the October 7 massacre was too much even for some of 4chan ’ s antisemites. “ They just beheaded an Israeli soldier … Well, it was fun while it lasted, but I ’ m out. Fuck those barbarians are isis tier, who the fuck in their right mind supports that? ” (Figure 4). Figure 4: Post on 4chan (Timestamp in UTC, 5 hours ahead of Eastern Time) 3.4 October 14 A week later, on October 14, search results on the mainstream platforms were similar to those of the previous week. Facebook showed mostly posts from professional Holocaust remembrance organizations, including many pictures of a conference by one of them and a post from the Holocaust & Humanity Center forwarding an announcement of an October 10 event in Cincinnati in support of Israel. YouTube showed mostly Holocaust documentaries and clips of Holocaust survivors from previous months or years. At the top of the list, however, was a recent video titled “‘ Hell is here again ’ : Jewish Holocaust Survivor Reflects on Hamas Attack in Israel ” (Figure 5). Three of the four videos in the additional “ People also watched ” category were related to the recent pogrom in Israel on October 7th, including two testimonials from relatives of victims and an AFP soundbite of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu briefing American President Biden on the attack, “ whose savagery, I can say, we have not seen since the Holocaust ” . The fourth of these suggested videos was about Netanyahu ’ s alleged claim that the Holocaust was the idea of the Mufti of Jerusalem. Figure 5: Post on YouTube Manipulation of Symbols 119 On TikTok, there were many of the same short clips from the previous week ’ s results, some perhaps a little more tasteless, but again, no Holocaust denial (Figure 6). Many of the clips showed the headline “ Learn the facts about the Holocaust ” at the bottom of the video, with a flash to click on. But, as in the previous week, the link went nowhere. In contrast, on X, the search using the term “ Holocaust ” returned mostly posts about the situation in Israel. Eight were pro-Israel and 13 were anti-Israel, including accusing Israel of Nazi policies, genocide, apartheid, colonization, or claiming “ Gaza is now a concentration camp. What Israel is doing to Palestinians is a holocaust. ” One post questioned the gravity of the massacre of Israeli civilians. Another implied that there is an alleged obligation to deal with the Holocaust in any game about World War II, which can be seen as an endorsement of the conspiracy theory that Holocaust remembrance has been imposed on society by nefarious Jewish actors. This came from a user who frequently posts screenshots from 4chan. Only four tweets were related to actual Holocaust remembrance or historical events related to the Holocaust. However, the first three tweets were all sympathetic to the victims of the pogrom. The first was a post that mentioned the kidnapping of Holocaust survivors and promoted a “ Hamas is ISIS ” video by the producers of the popular Israeli series Fauda. The second post was by Hananya Naftali, a social media journalist known for posting crude images of atrocities committed against Israelis to call attention to them. The post included a short video of him reporting from one of the villages attacked by Hamas. The third condemned a pro-Palestinian rally in London that accused Israel of being a terrorist state. The fourth post, however, quoted Norman Finkelstein approvingly, claiming that the Holocaust is being used as an ideological weapon and a “ pretext to humiliate, degrade and torture the Palestinians, ” again with an embedded video. On Gab, the first 30 posts displayed were dominated by forwarding or commenting on three news stories. The first was a video from BitChute that can be seen as promoting the Great Replacement Conspiracy Theory by claiming that members of the Jewish community in San Diego are responsible for bringing illegal aliens into the United States. The second was a report from GatewayPundit about an instructor at Stanford University who made Jewish students stand in a corner and accused Israel of colonialism. Most of the users who shared the story seemed to condemn it. The third was a story in the New York Post about a West Bank pizzeria that created an ad mocking a Holocaust survivor captured by Hamas. This story was shared mostly without comment. However, the top 30 results included eight posts denying the Holocaust and seven promoting conspiracy theories about Jewish power or Zionist control of the United States. About half (17 out of 30) were related to the war in Israel, one of them denying the massacre (and also the Holocaust) and another supporting the killing of Jews. The latter is a response to a post with a picture of a handcuffed Jesus Figure 6: Post on TikTok 120 Gunther Jikeli surrounded by Israeli soldiers and the headline “ Jesus Christ VS The synagogue of satan “ . The reply reads, ” Lol this time Christ will holocaust them off the earth. Good times. ” Some users ’ antisemitism is so strong that they advocate the killing of Jews and take sides for Hamas and against Israel. Others are more conservative and less antisemitic, using current events to denounce people on the political left. The Stanford instructor may stand for much that some of these conservatives dislike. But there was a complete lack of empathy for the victims of the pogrom against Israeli civilians or, for that matter, for the Palestinians, among Gab users. On Truth Social, most of the posts that the search with the term “ Holocaust ” returned on October 14 were related to events in Israel. Two-thirds were pro-Israel and only three were anti-Israel, two of which linked to a video of a Holocaust survivor, Gabor Maté, accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing. Another denied the Holocaust in passing. The message read, “ The real holocaust is going to be the Gaza Strip if the Israeli government ’ s X feed and official statements are to be believed. Oh the irony ” (Figure 7). Five messages either mocked or denied the Holocaust. Two users denounced what they called the “ hospital Holocaust. ” 3.5 October 21 On October 21, 2023, two weeks after the massacre of Israeli civilians, the themes on some platforms shifted toward discussions about the war in Israel and Gaza. However, on TikTok, the short videos were mostly about some aspects of the Holocaust, uploaded before October 7. The embedded link “ Learn the facts about the Holocaust ” in some of the videos still did not work. One video compared the Holocaust to slavery by asking why we know the number of victims of the Holocaust but not the number of victims of slavery, suggesting that we do not pay enough attention to the history of slavery. While none of the top 30 videos denied the Holocaust, some of the comments on the videos did. Many of the comments that were anti- Israel or antisemitic equated the Holocaust with the suffering of Palestinians at the hands of Israel in the current war in Gaza. This was not the case in the comments on the YouTube videos, partly simply because most of the comments were made long before October 7. YouTube had still the Encyclopedia Britannica ’ s entry on the Holocaust on display before showing the research results. Comedian Jessica Kirson ’ s video which was down the list in previous weeks had risen to first place (with 1.8 million views). In the video, she made clear in a conversation with a member of her audience that the Holocaust was worse than 9/ 11. However, the rest of the top 30 videos were still dominated by documentaries on the Holocaust and Nazism and Holocaust survivors ’ testimonies. Only one video, in the additional category “ People also watched ” was related to the massacre in Israel. The top 30 Facebook posts were dominated by posts from the Holocaust & Humanity Center and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Other posts were from the Museum of Jewish Figure 7: Post on Truth Social Manipulation of Symbols 121 Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, the Virginia Holocaust Museum, the Zekelman Holocaust Center, and the Holocaust Museum L. A. The latter posted a video of a rally in support of Israel (Figure 8). Figure 8: Post on Facebook Two weeks after 10/ 7, discussions on X/ Twitter were dominated by the war in Israel and Gaza. About half of them were attacking Israel, mostly with accusations of genocide and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. One tweet even endorsed the Holocaust with a false Hitler quote “ I could have killed all the Jews of the world, but I left some of them to know why I was killing them. ” The tweet included hashtags that mention Hamas, GazaHospital, and PalestineGenocide. It can be read as a call to murder Jews. However, other posts called out such narratives and antisemitism at various rallies or denounced the brutality of the massacre against Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists. On TruthSocial, five of the first 30 posts that were yielded by the search denied the Holocaust by comments, such as “ What if I told you the Holocaust did not gas 6 million people of Jewish faith … .. ” Only one post, a report of a meeting with a Holocaust survivor, was directly related to the Holocaust. In other posts, the Holocaust was more used as a reference, mostly in denouncing the massacre in Israel but in two cases also as a positive reference, again, to Canadian Holocaust survivor Gabor Maté and his accusation against Israel of ethnic cleansing. The proportion of Holocaust denial was higher on Gab, with more than one-third of posts denying the Holocaust and two-thirds of posts being antisemitic. The majority of posts were related to the war in Israel, and most of them were anti-Israel. Five posts were pro-Israel or pointed out the brutality of the massacre. The widespread accusation of genocide against the Palestinians was combined in at least one case with the accusation of genocide against the Russians during the Russian Revolution. Endorsing the Holocaust (Figure 9) or Holocaust denial was part of more than a third of the threads on 4chan. All but two threads contained antisemitic tropes. One of the two non- 122 Gunther Jikeli antisemitic threads was overtly racist against black people, and the other praised the farright politician Javier Milei from Argentina. Interestingly, however, at least one user seems to want to challenge antisemites on the platform, repeatedly posting “ Question for all you anti-semites. Why would Jews want increased islamic immigration? ” and voicing concern about the rise of antisemitism. Both posts were mostly met with antisemitic comments. Figure 9: Post on 4chan 3.6 October 28 Three weeks after the massacre, on October 28, we saw more distortions of the Holocaust and more antisemitic comments than in previous weeks. On TikTok, most of the videos returned by a search of “ Holocaust ” were posted before 10/ 7, but some of the comments were not. Some of these more recent comments included antisemitic comments related to the war. One comment on the first video that came up read “ Now their doing the same to the Palestinian people! They mustve forgot where tf they came from [sic] ” and other comments repeated similar tropes. One of the top 30 posts featured a video of a white man with a printout of a picture of Kanye West and his quote “ I ’ m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I ’ m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can ’ t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda. ” , interviewing a black man, pointing out that people know the number of victims of the Holocaust but not the number of victims of slavery. The same user posted videos of the antisemitic “ Ban-the-ADL ” campaign and used imagery popular with the alt-right, such as Pepe the Frog. On YouTube, there were a few more videos about current events than in previous weeks, all about Israel. One video focused on an incident in which Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem were filmed spitting at Christian pilgrims. Another one showed an Israeli Holocaust survivor who was shocked by the Hamas massacre. Most of the comments on this video were sympathetic, but some accused Israel of genocide. One emotional comment blamed all Jews in Israel for oppressing the Palestinians and expressed solidarity with their “ struggle ” : “ my heart goes out to the palestenian people against their struggle with their oppresor the jewish people of israel. ” We found similar comments on the video “ Netanyahu vows to ‘ destroy the enemy ’ as Israeli offensive in Gaza intensifies, ” which was shown in the “ People also watched ” section. The same section featured the video “’ A Textbook Case of Genocide ’ : Israeli Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal Decries Israel ’ s Assault on Gaza, ” which can be read as an antisemitic accusation and Holocaust inversion. At the time, the video had been viewed more than 400,000 times. Manipulation of Symbols 123 The Facebook search again returned posts from Holocaust centers. Facebook ’ s algorithms seem to be programmed that way. In contrast, on X, two-thirds of the top 30 posts were antisemitic and/ or accused Israel of genocide and two tweets indirectly denied the Holocaust. One of them referred to the war in Gaza as “ the greatest crime in history and the real genocide of the Holocaust. ” The other one was more indirect. It posted a survey asking users “ Are you a holocaust survivor? ” This was from someone with a history of openly antisemitic comments, such as “ Never trust a Jew. Period. ” However, five out of 30 posts were positive about Israel, some refuting the accusation that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians. Notorious Jewish critics of Israel, such as Norman Finkelstein, Gabor Maté, and Jane Hirschmann were repeatedly used to accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing and genocide, often with embedded videos. While a third of the top 30 posts on TruthSocial were positive about Israel and two even called out antisemitism, a quarter contained Holocaust denial and distortion, and one post called for a Holocaust, that is, the murder of Jews in America. “ We need a holocaust, ” commented one user on an antisemitic post that claimed that 89 % of dual citizens in Congress are Israeli and that the U. S. government works for Israel (Figure 10). Two posts diminished the Holocaust through inappropriate comparisons, such as a video billed as “ Covid Style Holocaust ” that included a clip of Hitler and his staff with (obviously) false subtitles saying that Hitler tricked the population into taking the vaccine. Three posts questioned the Holocaust in ways that qualify as Holocaust denial or distortion, including a misleading quote from former Israeli minister Shulamit Aloni, saying that the Holocaust is “ a trick we always use. ” One post was part of the farright campaign #TheNoticing, which asked “ Did the holocaust really happen? ” Two included antisemitic conspiracy theories about Soros and some were anti- Israeli, including accusing Israel of committing a genocide against the Palestinians. “ Jews are performing a Holocaust on Palestinians, ” said one TruthSocial user. The majority of posts on Gab denied, belittled, or mocked the Holocaust, such as saying that some allergies, a pimple, or some kettle corn between the teeth were worse than the Holocaust. Two posts accused Israel of weaponizing the Holocaust, but a few posts also called out Hamas or Hamas supporters. Calling out Hamas supporters, however, was used to advance a political agenda, either by condemning prominent Democrats, including the “ Squad, ” for their alleged support of Hamas, or by pointing out that much of the antisemitism in Europe comes from immigrants. Some of the most outrageous comments were found on 4chan on October 28. A majority of posts denied the Holocaust, mocked it, or showed some Figure 10: Post on Truth Social 124 Gunther Jikeli form of admiration for Hitler or the SS, including Hitler portraits. One post cheered the killing of an Israeli soldier by Hamas and another one called for the murder of Jews while denying the Holocaust. “ even the most pro-Israel retards are learning to hate the Kikes. Hope you ’ re ready fora real holocaust, ” it read. Another post called even more directly for the mass murder of Jews. “ By typing in this thread you denounce Israel as a legitimate state, denounce the Talmud and endorse TKD (Total Kike Death), ” was one of the phrases that accompanied an image showing a Palestinian fighter in a wheelchair throwing rocks with a sling, surrounded by the slogan “ CHIP - Comfy Happening in Palestine ” (Figure 11). The “ CHIP ” meme is part of a wider campaign on 4chan with hundreds of similar “ CHIP ” memes that are used to start threads, each including the above sentence and updated links related to news about the war, using sources such as Al-Jazeera, RT, and al-Mayadeen, a pro- Hezbollah news network. 3 Another post made fun of Jews and Muslims in the area and advocated for killing both Jews and Muslims, adding “ The world would be better off. ” However, interestingly, some posts called out Holocaust denial, showed admiration for female Israeli soldiers, and one post even displayed a “ We stand with Israel ” image by the ADL with the text “ Why do you guys take out your childhood bullying trauma on jews? bit pathetic, unless this place is infested with shitskin sandniggers, hating jews is irrational. ” Despite the openly racist message, such posts might have been used to troll the neo-Nazis on 4chan. Figure 11: Meme on 4chan 3.7 4chan The share of Holocaust denial in the top 30 search results about the Holocaust on 4chan rose from about a third at the beginning of the month to more than half of the posts. Some users advocated for a second Holocaust and celebrated the violence against Israelis, sometimes expressed in memes. 4 One user posted an image of an alt-right paraglider, thereby identifying the alt-right with Hamas terrorists, see Figure 2. Some users openly called for the mass murder of Jews with slogans like “ Total Kike Death. ” Only a few users challenged antisemitic content, some of them seem to be trolling antisemites on 4chan. Overall, the analysis paints a disturbing picture of 4chan as a breeding ground for 3 (World Jewish Congress 2023) The meme is modeled on the pro-Russian meme “ chug/ (Comfy Happening in Ukraine General) ” . (Stenmann Baun et al. 2022) 4 We found variations of the meme “ CHIP - Comfy Happening in Palestine, ” see (World Jewish Congress 2023) The meme is modeled on the pro-Russian meme “ chug/ (Comfy Happening in Ukraine General) ” . (Stenmann Baun et al. 2022) Manipulation of Symbols 125 antisemitism and Holocaust denial, with limited counter-narratives and increasing acceptance of extremist views endorsing violence against Jews. The rise in Holocaust denial content and the celebration of violence against Israelis and Jews on 4chan signifies a disturbing increase in antisemitic sentiment. The posts themselves become signs of a deeply ingrained prejudice and hatred, distorting historical reality and advocating for violence. The memes shared by users function as potent symbols of open hatred and calls for violence against Jews. They signify an insidious form of hate speech, as their often humorous or ironic tone can mask the severity of the messages they convey. The image of an alt-right paraglider posted by a user serves as a sign linking the alt-right movement with Hamas terrorists. This symbolic association suggests a shared endorsement of violence against Jews and a common enemy in the Jewish State. The slogan “ Total Kike Death ” operates as a chilling symbol of genocidal intent. Its use signifies a call for mass violence against Jews, showcasing the extreme nature of the discourse found on 4chan. The limited challenges to antisemitic content and the trolling of antisemites signify a community largely complacent or supportive of such views. These actions, or lack thereof, serve as signs of the normalization of hate speech on the platform. 3.8 Facebook Facebook uses an algorithm for its Holocaust search results that strongly favors posts from professional organizations dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust. The top 30 results in October 2023 were consistently from organizations such as the United States Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust & Humanity Center, the Shoah Foundation, the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, the Virginia Holocaust Museum, the Zekelman Holocaust Center, and the Holocaust Museum L. A.. The consistent appearance of professional organizations dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust signifies Facebook ’ s endorsement of authoritative and reliable sources. In addition, Facebook displayed a brief explanation of the Holocaust before the search results, including a link to a page established by the World Jewish Congress in partnership with UNESCO (www.aboutholocaust.org). It symbolically associates the Holocaust search on Facebook with international standards of education and remembrance. It also displayed relevant Facebook groups to join, including “ Holocaust: a warning from history, ” “ Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, ” and “ Holocaust Educators of North Carolina, ” and suggested pages to follow. The suggested pages were all from organizations dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust, mostly posting about their events, conferences, or Holocaust survivors. Toward the end of the month, more posts appeared about recent events, including statements in solidarity with the Jewish people or Israel in response to the Hamas mass murder attack. 3.9 Gab Already before the massacre, over a third of top posts denied or called for a second Holocaust, with the number rising to two-thirds the day after. This trend continued throughout the month, with a significant portion of posts promoting denial, belittlement, or mockery of the Holocaust. It signifies an alarming acceptance and promotion of violence against Jews within the community. Posts celebrated the Hamas massacre, with some 126 Gunther Jikeli justifying it as a response to Israeli actions or endorsing further violence against Jews. The celebration of the Hamas massacre functions as a symbol of endorsement for anti-Jewish violence, demonstrating a dangerous disregard for human life and an alignment with extremist views. Gab users also widely shared and promoted conspiracy theories about Jewish power, Zionist control, and the Great Replacement theory, signifying a scapegoating mechanism, where complex societal issues are simplified and blamed on a particular group, in this case, Jews. Empathy for the victims of the 10/ 7 massacre, or Palestinians for that matter, was rare, with some users even mocking the suffering, reducing the victims to objects of ridicule rather than acknowledging their humanity and suffering. When the pogrom or antisemitism was condemned, it was used to advance a political agenda, with users attacking Democrats, the left, and immigrants. The analysis reveals a disturbing symbolic landscape within the Gab online community, dominated by signs of hate, violence, conspiracy, manipulation, and a chilling lack of empathy. 3.10 TikTok The first 30 posts returned by searches on TikTok on each of the six days were mostly informational. However, TikTok videos were shorter and tended to be less professional and more emotional than YouTube videos. Some TikTok videos included a link “ Learn the facts about the Holocaust, ” but the link was dead in all cases. This empty signifier symbolizes an attempt at providing accurate information but fails to deliver, thus creating a gap in the intended educational message. TikTok had many personal videos, some of questionable quality or taste, including clips from movies like “ The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, ” which might be an attempt to humanize the Holocaust and make it more relatable to viewers, despite issues of accuracy and respectful representation. One video compared the Holocaust to slavery by asking why we know the number of victims of the Holocaust but not the number of victims of slavery, suggesting that we do not pay enough attention to the history of slavery. This can be interpreted as an attempt to use the memory of the Holocaust for other political purposes and a form of distorted comparison. While none of the top 30 videos denied the Holocaust, some of the comments on the videos did. Many of the comments that were anti-Israel or antisemitic equated the Holocaust with the suffering of Palestinians at the hands of Israel in the current war in Gaza. However, even at the end of the month, most of the videos returned by a search of “ Holocaust ” were posted before 10/ 7, but some of the comments on those videos were not. Some of the more recent comments included antisemitic comments related to the war between Israel and Hamas. A comment on the first video that came up on October 28 accused the Jewish people of doing the same to Palestinians as Nazis did to them. 3.11 Truth Social A significant number of posts denied, minimized, or mocked the Holocaust throughout October. At the end of October, a quarter of the top 30 posts contained Holocaust denial or distortion. Comparisons between the Holocaust and current events, such as issues at the southern U. S. border, were used to advance political narratives aligned with the far-right. Manipulation of Symbols 127 Many posts related to Israel were positive about Israel, while others were negative, including posts with Holocaust survivor, Gabor Maté, accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing. At least one post on Truth Social explicitly called for the mass murder of Jews, highlighting the dangerous extremist views present also on this platform. Only a few posts challenged antisemitic content. The posts denying, minimizing, or mocking the Holocaust act as signifiers of a disturbing trend of historical revisionism within parts of the political right. The quarter of top posts containing Holocaust denial or distortion at the end of October signifies an alarming intensity and normalization of such narratives within the platform ’ s discourse. The comparisons between the Holocaust and current events, such as issues at the southern U. S. border, serve as metaphoric signs. They signify an attempt to use historical atrocities to advance politically charged narratives, oversimplifying complex issues and exploiting emotional reactions. The varied posts related to Israel, both positive and negative, show a divisive debate within the Truth Social community. The Holocaust survivors are used as signs of moral authority and misused to attack Israel through claims they made in public about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. However, the few posts challenging antisemitic content act as signs of resistance within the community and signify individuals or groups attempting to counteract the prevalent hate speech and misinformation, which is different from more extreme platforms, such as Gab. 3.12 YouTube For searches about the Holocaust, YouTube primarily displayed documentaries, survivor testimonies, and an encyclopedia link, demonstrating a neutral and informative approach. This signifies a commitment to education and factual representation. References to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict emerged in mid-October, with videos featuring survivor reflections on the Hamas attack and news coverage of the situation. While some search results leaned toward the Palestinian perspective, YouTube algorithms showed a generally neutral approach to the conflict in response to a search for content related to the Holocaust. The emergence of references to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in searches for content about the Holocaust shows the interplay between historical events and contemporary issues. 3.13 X/ Twitter Although X/ Twitter displays mostly relevant organizations before the search results, a search for Holocaust-related content on X/ Twitter often returns messages denying the Holocaust or advancing the trope that the Holocaust memory is politically misused for nefarious purposes, see Figure 1, showing a message featuring a video by far-right leader Nick Fuentes. A significant portion of posts after the mass violence against Israelis attacked Israel, accusing it of genocide, apartheid, and Nazi-like policies. Only a small fraction of posts supported Israel, with some countering accusations of genocide and others refuting antisemitic narratives. Notorious Jewish critics of Israel were frequently cited to advance anti-Israel or antisemitic arguments. The accusations against Israel in a significant portion of posts demonstrates a strong anti-Israel sentiment within the X/ Twitter community. 128 Gunther Jikeli These posts act as signs of a narrative that equates Israeli policies with genocide, apartheid, and Nazi-like practices. The citation of notorious Jewish critics of Israel to advance anti- Israel or antisemitic arguments signifies a tactic used to legitimize these views. It acts as a sign of an attempt to cloak antisemitism under the guise of legitimate criticism by using Jewish voices as a form of protection. Some posts explicitly endorsed the Holocaust, highlighting the platform ’ s potential for spreading dangerous content. They are alarming signs of extreme hatred and historical revisionism. They signify the platform ’ s potential to be used as a vehicle for spreading dangerous and harmful content. While some users challenged antisemitic content, they were a minority. Overall, the analysis reveals a disturbing environment on X/ Twitter where Holocaust denial and antisemitism are found frequently in Holocaust-related content, often intertwined with anti-Israel sentiment. The display of relevant organizations before search results on X/ Twitter signifies an effort to provide credible and authoritative sources of information. However, the fact that Holocaust-related searches frequently return messages denying the Holocaust or advancing politically motivated misuse of Holocaust memory signifies a disconnect between the platform ’ s intent and the actual content it surfaces. The platform ’ s algorithms and moderation practices appear insufficient to effectively address these issues. 4 Conclusions When people search for information and posts about the Holocaust on Facebook and YouTube, they will find links to informational websites displayed before the search results. The search results are curated so that content that denies or distorts the Holocaust is unlikely to appear in the top results. This was also the case during the month of October 2023, when many users made inappropriate comparisons between the Holocaust and the war in Gaza. However, this welcome practice does not mean that, depending on user behavior and the circle of followers, users are not confronted with corresponding content in their feeds or in messages and comments from other users. TikTok also seems to try to reduce displaying Holocaust denial content through its algorithms. However, TikTok ’ s ineffective (dead) links to informational sites and questionable content reflect its struggle to balance user-generated content with the seriousness of the Holocaust. This could symbolize a generational gap in understanding and use of the sign “ Holocaust ” and depicting historical atrocities, as well as the limitations of short video formats in conveying complex issues. X/ Twitter ’ s display of relevant organization accounts before search results illustrates an attempt to direct users toward credible sources. On most days, it displayed the accounts of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and other organizations, such as the British Holocaust Educational Trust or the United Nations Outreach Program on the Holocaust. However, the prominence of unrelated accounts like “ Toxic Holocaust, ” an American thrash metal band, signifies a limitation in their algorithms ’ ability to distinguish between contextually appropriate and inappropriate content. Manipulation of Symbols 129 It was shocking to see how widespread Holocaust denial is on X/ Twitter and Truth Social and that there does not seem to be any effective attempt by these platforms to reduce such content, signifying a worrying trend of misinformation and revisionism. The widespread denial of the Holocaust on Gab and 4chan came as no surprise. There was little, and on some platforms no, empathy for the Jewish victims of the Hamas massacre. Immediately after the pogrom, however, a certain degree of sympathy was expressed in relation to the abduction of a Holocaust survivor and in response to the news that the massacre of the Jewish civilian population represented suffering unprecedented since the Holocaust. On the day of the massacre, when Israel was still assessing the scale of the atrocities against its civilian population in the south of the country, Israel was already accused of genocide against the Palestinians and perpetrating “ another Holocaust ” . In the weeks that followed, this accusation only grew louder on social media, often supported by citing a Holocaust survivor. It is worth noting that, according to the United Nations definition of genocide, the Hamas massacre is a genocide, while the Gaza war is not. The U. N. definition reads: “ [G]enocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, ” and it concludes with “ (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group ” (United Nations 1948). The intent to destroy the group and to take action to do so is essential. Hamas officials have repeatedly made it clear, including in their founding charter, that they intend to wipe out Israel and that they intend to kill all Jews, and they have put this into practice as best they can. By the end of the month of October, on fringe platforms and on X/ Twitter, antisemitic comments had become more frequent and more radical and empathy for Jews had further declined. Accusations of genocide committed by Israel also became more frequent. Users on the far-right spectrum even cheered the Hamas massacre of Jews or called for another Holocaust, whether on Gab, 4chan, or Truth Social. We can confirm previous findings that far-right users share Hamas content and cheer the death of Jews.(World Jewish Congress 2023, 13) The cheering of massacres by far-right users symbolizes a dangerous radicalization of online discourse. Other users on the political right used news of the massacre to blame the Biden administration, for example, for making $6 billion available to Iran in the summer of 2023, implicitly condemning the massacre. Similarly, some users pointed to the antisemitic rallies in many countries to denounce liberal immigration policies. As Imran Ahmed, director of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said, 5 we are in a moment of mobilization. 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