While Facebook and Twitter have been proactive in blocking anti-vaccination disinformation and hate speech of what they view as right-wing extremism, a new study shows the Big Tech giants have an inconsistent approach in defining hate speech.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate's latest study found Facebook and Twitter censor fewer than 1 in 9 of reported antisemitic hate speech over a six-week period in 2021, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
The center reported hundreds of antisemitic posts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, too, according to the report.
Among the concerning posts were Holocaust denial, Nazi symbolism, and hateful hashtags including #holohoax and #killthejews, receiving 7.3 million views on social media, according to the study.
While Facebook and Twitter have been active suppressing scientific reports on the COVID-19 origins pointing to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Free Beacon reported, much of the antisemitic posts were allowed to remain.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate's study also suggested the true percentage of antisemitic posts taken down is likely far lower than the study's findings, because of limited scope.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had once vowed not to ban antisemitic speech, but his company changed its policy in October 2020, vowing to ban "any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust" and banning stereotyping of Jews controlling world events, the Free Beacon reported.
The center's study found that posts about "Jewish puppeteers" controlling finances and world events and posts implicating Jewish people in a vast global conspiracy were only removed 8% of the time.
As Big Tech works to censor COVID misinformation, including taking recommendations from President Joe Biden's White House, only 4% of posts blaming Jews for COVID or "dangerous vaccines" were actually removed, according to the study.