Antisemitism is “thriving in plain sight” on Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), according to a new study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. 

The study, first shared with CNN, conducted an analysis of over 679,000 antisemitic posts made over a year on the site and found that, despite the platform’s own anti-hate policies and commitment to reduce visibility of hateful content, X “not only tolerates” antisemitic conduct “but allows users to monetize it, giving antisemitic influencers both reach and revenue.”

With the assistance of ChatGPT, the study categorized the posts into Jewish control or power conspiracies, Jewish satanic conspiracies and Holocaust denial, with control or power conspiracies accounting for the plurality (44%) of the total likes and views. All posts included were viewed 193 million times in total.

Musk has touted the platform’s “community notes” feature — where users can add context to false or misleading posts that remain attached to the post if enough verified users vote them as “helpful” — as an antidote to conspiratorial and harmful content instead of increased content moderation. But of the 300 most viewed posts — 100 from each category — only four of them were given a publicly visible community note. Compounding the issue, only 22% of users who viewed the original post viewed the attached community note, likely due to the delay in writing and voting on the note before it was made widely visible.

X says it may restrict posts that violate its policies, which include attacking others on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or religion, “inciting behavior,” reinforcing stereotypes, dehumanizing a group of people and denying mass casualty events like the Holocaust. But the study found X took action — including limiting visibility, removing the post, displaying a community note or deleting or suspending the account — on only 36 out of the 300 most-viewed posts.

Individual “antisemitism influencers,” as the study refers to them, find unique success on X. Thirty-two percent of the total likes among all the posts included in the study came from only 10 accounts; for nine of these influencers, their X accounts have the largest number of followers of all their social media platforms. Three of these accounts offer paid subscriptions to their followers, meaning they can profit from their content. 

Despite their posts violating X’s own hate speech policies, six of the 10 are subscribed to X Premium and have a verified checkmark next to their name, providing them increased visibility on the site and more opportunities to monetize their messages. 

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of JCPA, told Jewish Insider, “Antisemitic conspiracy theories and hate that were once fringe have been wholly normalized — thriving in plain sight and amplified by X’s failure to live up to its own policies. At a time when polarization, extremism, and violence are rising at home and abroad, the unchecked spread of antisemitism online is a direct threat not only Jewish safety, but to the safety of all communities and our core democratic values.”