Social media companies push antisemitism, studies find; a neo-Nazi military 'fight club'

Will Carless, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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Social media companies aren’t just hosting antisemitic and hateful content, their algorithms are helping to push interested users deeper down extremist rabbit holes, according to two new reports released this week. Meanwhile, a white supremacist “fight” club in California includes current and former military members, a new investigation finds. And the opening of a virtual Holocaust museum inside the game Minecraft is temporarily delayed by racist protests.

It’s the week in extremism.

This picture taken on April 27, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France, shows a screen displaying the Meta logo and the European flag. - European commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton unveiled a list of 19 online platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, as having user numbers so big they will come under stricter regulatory rules for content. The list which also includes services from Amazon, Google, Meta, Instagram and Microsoft puts them in a category under a new EU law, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), imposing measures from August such as annual audits and a duty to effectively counter disinformation and hate content.

Hate machine: How social media platforms push extremism

The world’s largest social media platforms are still hosting antisemitic and hateful content, and their algorithms push users towards additional extremist material, according to two new reports provided exclusively to USA TODAY this week.

  • Researchers at the Anti-Defamation League and Tech Transparency Project tested social media algorithms by creating six fictional accounts — four for adults and two for teenagers — on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

  • When the accounts searched for antisemitic and other racist content, all of the platforms except YouTube suggested additional pages and content along similar lines, one study found.

  • Instagram, in particular, directed a fictional account for a 14-year-old toward neo-Nazi content, including a video interview with the American Nazi Party founder saying: “The main thing we are fighting for is the preservation of the white race.”

“I think it's definitely intentional, and I think it's based off greed,” content creator and activist Natasha Zinda told USA TODAY. “I very much believe the system is working as intended.”

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta said in an emailed statement that hate has no place on its platforms: "We've made progress in fighting antisemitism on our platforms, and our work is never done.”

Member of the white supremacist group, "Rise Above Movement," Tyler Laube allegedly assaulted a journalist at a March 2017 political rally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Laube and three other men, including group founder Robert Rundo, face charges for violence at multiple rallies throughout California in 2017, prosecutors said.
Member of the white supremacist group, "Rise Above Movement," Tyler Laube allegedly assaulted a journalist at a March 2017 political rally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Laube and three other men, including group founder Robert Rundo, face charges for violence at multiple rallies throughout California in 2017, prosecutors said.

White supremacist 'active club' includes US military

A white supremacist “active club” in California counts as its members serving and former members of the U.S. military, according to an investigation by The Guardian published this week.

  • “Active clubs,” otherwise called “fight clubs” recruit members to train in martial arts and also to harass and intimidate political adversaries.

  • As the Guardian story notes: “Their recruitment among active and former members of the military underscores both the broadening appeal of the fitness-centric organizing model and the American armed services’ persistent struggle with extremism within the ranks.”

USA TODAY’s investigation last month revealed that the U.S. military continues to fall short in its effort to combat extremism in the ranks. Earlier this month, an internal military audit confirmed those concerns, finding military recruiters weren’t screening eligible recruits for ties to extremism 40 percent of the time.

Investigation: The military ordered big steps to stop extremism. Two years later, it shows no results

A ceremony at the Hall of Remembrance in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum on April 18, 2023 marks the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in memory of the six million Jews killed during World War II.
A ceremony at the Hall of Remembrance in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum on April 18, 2023 marks the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in memory of the six million Jews killed during World War II.

Fortnite Holocaust museum launch delayed by harassment

Independent video game designer Luc Bernard, who created a Holocaust museum for the hugely popular online game Fortnite, has delayed the museum’s launch because of online harassment, according to a report in artnet news.

  • The museum, which was approved by Epic games, which developed Fortnite, is to feature galleries detailing the atrocities of the Holocaust and exhibits dedicated to people who resisted the Nazis.

  • Bernard briefly delayed the launch of the museum after Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes posted about it Bernard on his Telegram account: “I’m waiting until things die down,” Bernard said. “I just don’t want the Nazis to go in it and do Nazi things when it launches.”

  • The museum launched on Monday.

  • Reached by direct message on Thursday, Bernard told USA TODAY “Things have gotten a lot better” regarding the harassment.

Statistic of the week: 3 million

That’s the value – in dollars – of a Bitcoin transfer sent to internet hosting company Epik shortly after the company announced its servers had been hacked in 2021, according to a new report by Southern Poverty Law Center researchers.

Epik is notorious for hosting white supremacist and other extremist websites, including far-right YouTube clone BitChute.

The researchers were unable to confirm who sent Epik the bitcoin, but said that a few days later, those funds and others were transferred to a Malaysian businessman.

More: He infiltrated a white supremacist group. Now he's being sued

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Extremist fight club; hate in the algorithm; Fortnite Holocaust museum