Antisemitic 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Surge on Social Media, Report Finds
A report by CyberWell reveals a surge of antisemitic 9/11 conspiracy theories on social media, with actors using coded emojis and caricatures to bypass AI moderation.
A wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming Israel and the Jewish people for the September 11 terrorist attacks continues to spread across social media platforms, according to a report by CyberWell, an official partner of major tech platforms including Meta, TikTok, and YouTube for hate speech monitoring.
Digital Antisemitism and 9/11
Data from the organization indicates that blaming Jews for global disasters remains one of the most prominent patterns of digital antisemitism. While most conspiracy theories surrounding current events tend to fade shortly after occurrence, the 9/11 falsehoods have become a permanent reference point designed to claim that if Jews allegedly stood behind past disasters, they must also be behind subsequent crises.
"Those who spread conspiratorial hate around the 25th anniversary desecrate the memory of the victims and the rescue forces," said CyberWell founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.
Evasion of Content Moderation Algorithms
During monitoring, dozens of posts were identified across Meta, Reddit, TikTok, and X claiming that Jews planned the attacks, knew about them in advance, or managed the events behind the scenes. To evade automated moderation systems, users employed juice box emojis as a code for the word "Jews", combined attack imagery with the antisemitic "The Happy Merchant" caricature, and recycled the "dancing Israelis" conspiracy theory alongside false claims regarding Jewish businessman Larry Silverstein.
