The case in summary Amnesty International has reviewed over 300,000 comments on TikTok and Facebook and found an increase in linguistic attacks against Jews and Muslims after the war in Gaza. The debate about Israel and Palestine is highly polarized, and increased engagement has led to a significant increase in offensive and hateful comments. Young Jews and Muslims are particularly vulnerable, especially on TikTok, and some choose to withdraw from the social debate. The number of Islamophobic or anti-Semitic expressions has increased from almost 0 percent in January 2023, to 2 percent after 7 October. In a year and a half, Norwegians have left over 300,000 comments under posts about the Middle East conflict on Facebook, with an average increase in linguistic attacks from 2.2 to 4.9. Amnesty believes that the platforms’ algorithms reinforce the extreme and that both the authorities and the platforms must do more to facilitate a good public conversation and limit incitement. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – Our survey shows that after 7 October the debate on social media intensified. It simply became tougher to be a Norwegian Muslim or Jew online, says John Peder Egenæs, Secretary General of Amnesty Norway. Amnesty International has reviewed over 300,000 comments on TikTok and Facebook, to see how Norwegians participate in the debate about Israel and Palestine. The survey shows that the debate is very fierce and polarised. – The report also shows a sharp increase in involvement in the Middle East debate. This is not surprising, and could have been positive. Unfortunately, we see that the debate that arises is very polarized, says Egenæs. According to Amnesty, this means that Muslims and Jews who follow the debate on these platforms constantly experience being confronted with offensive or hateful comments. The fear is that it will be harder for them to express themselves. Secretary General of Amnesty Norway, John Peder Egenæs, believes the debate climate surrounding the Middle East conflict has a major problem. Photo: Silje Haugen Myrseth / news Young people are particularly affected by TikTok, which appeals to a younger audience, often has more intense discussions and sharper opinions than Facebook. This can lead to young Jews and Muslims feeling exposed and choosing to withdraw from the public debate, says Egenæs. – There was very little about this report that was surprising, says Eliana Hercz to Nyhetsmorgen. Hercz is both young and Jewish, and has himself avoided social media on several occasions following the attacks on Israel on 7 October and the subsequent war in Gaza. Amnesty’s figures show that there has been an increase in Islamophobic or anti-Semitic expressions from almost 0 per cent in January 2023, to 2 per cent after 7 October. – This figure may seem small, but remember that since the debate has increased violently, it has led to a significant increase in linguistic attacks and hateful comments, says Egenæs. Hercz says she has always experienced the debate climate in Norway as harsh, but that it has now gone from harsh to “dehumanizing”. – You feel that there is no place for you, and you feel that you are being silenced. Or that you can’t bear to participate, and that is a democratic problem, because you lose many important votes. Eliana Hercz is Jewish and says that for the first time she has felt fear for what the future will bring. Photo: Silje Haugen Myrseth / news Change in the debate climate In a year and a half, Norwegians have left over 300,000 comments on posts about the Middle East conflict on media and politician pages on Facebook. Amnesty has mapped that the average number of linguistic attacks on Facebook has increased from 2.2 to 4.9, while the corresponding number on TikTok is an increase from 0.39 to 5.57. These are comments that have been left after moderation by the platforms, page administrators or the users themselves. – You have to defend yourself all the time to be a Muslim, and you can see in the comments section that you draw lines between a war happening abroad and people in your neighborhood and yourself, says Muslim Mahira Karim. Both Karim and Hercz are working on how to prevent polarization in the social debate, where both are very active. Muslim Mahira Karim (th) and Jewish Eliana Hercz have both experienced hate speech when they participate in the public debate. Photo: Silje Haugen Myrseth / news But after 7 October, Karim has also felt a change in the debate climate. – I was very active in the social debate in the past, but very suddenly realized that here it is not my opinions that are being commented on, but who I am as a person and what I wear. – So I am attacked for being a Muslim and a woman, but not accepted for my opinions and my involvement in the social debate, says Karim. – An echo chamber The number of comments when the media and politicians post about the Middle East conflict has increased by 190 per cent after 7 October. As the media and politicians publish hundreds of posts about the escalation and the situation in Israel and Gaza in the following months, the activity in the comment fields is also high. In the same month that the war broke out, over 70,000 comments were left on Norwegian media posts. During the past year and a half, Norwegian national, local and regional media have published 7,506 posts related to the Middle East conflict, while political websites have published 3,675 posts. Photo: Amnesty Hercz says that being presented with the massive amount of comments as a private person is very demanding, and she is surprised that opinions are imposed on her that she does not have. Hercz thinks the “echo chamber formation” that is now seen, rather than the desire for nuanced opinions, is frightening. – It depends on who you are as a Jew with different characteristics, or whether you want death and depravity, there is also a requirement to choose a side. Algorithms amplify A contributing factor to the fact that the debate is becoming increasingly polarized, according to Amnesty’s report. Amnesty believes that both the authorities and the platforms must do more to facilitate a good public conversation and limit incitement. – It is not enough to moderate afterwards. In addition, the authorities must ensure that people who are subjected to incitement and hatred have somewhere to go. The police need more resources to work with the expressions that are illegal, but in addition, a low-threshold service is needed for people who experience incitement. Finally, we must facilitate arenas that promote debate and give room to ask the difficult questions. The social media work poorly for this today, says Egenæs. Published 25/09/2024, at 14.36
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Increased Jewish and Muslim hatred online after 7 October – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
