Are we preparing our children to face antisemitic hatred on social media?

Two kids, four jobs, and many grey hairs in, it’s sometimes hard to remember that a couple of decades ago I was 16 years old, stressing about exams, trying to avoid Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira (great song, but absolutely inescapable in the summer of 2006) and getting to grips with an exciting new phenomenon which was opened to the general public in September – Facebook.

At the risk of sounding like Grandpa Simpson lecturing the youth of Springfield about the old days, it was genuinely exciting to experience the birth of social media. For a while, there were relatively few boundaries – random people would send you a friend request, and you’d accept, because it was all new and exciting. People would set up new groups and you would join them. I even remember the first time I came across what would soon become known as a troll. In hindsight, they were clearly trying to rile up everyone they could on a topic, but at the time people were genuinely trying to explain to them why they were wrong.

It seemed to me – at least from a teenage perspective – that online antisemitism was pretty rare back then outside the darkest corners of the internet. It was in the 2010s, when I joined Twitter, that I really started to see social media Jew-hate first hand, particularly towards the middle of the decade, when Labour under Corbyn became a reality.

At that point it became clear, after being on the receiving end of hundreds of antisemitic comments on a regular basis, that I would either have to develop a rhinoceros hide to deal with it, or learn to shrug it off.

But social media has become exponentially worse since. The amount of hate – on Instagram, X, TikTok or pretty much any other platform you can name – is overwhelming, and antisemitism is the one type of hatred where the far-right and far-left form an unholy alliance. I wouldn’t want my kids near any form of social media – fortunately they are far too young to know or care about it – but of course, as they get older, that will likely change.

Where are the programmes for Jewish students which teach them what to do and who to tell if they are targeted for antisemitism online?

The UK government looks set to institute some form of ban on social media accounts for those under 16. Whether or not that happens, it would be wise for our community to prepare our kids better for the hatred they will almost inevitably face if they are ever identified online as Jewish.

Where are the programmes for Jewish students which teach them what to do and who to tell if they are targeted for antisemitism online? Where are the courses showing our teenagers how exactly to navigate different social media platforms and teaching them about the safety tools available, as well as informing them of how algorithms can work in terms of presenting them with hateful content? Where are the messages from Jewish social media influencers in which they let a younger generation know that they receive hateful messages too, and provide their valuable guidance on how to cope?

I worry. There has always been a deluge of poisonous vitriol targeting Jews, but it used to be harder to access. Now every child with a phone or tablet can potentially be targeted by hatred – a veritable tsunami of tsuris. I do not believe we have begun to reckon with the response that this could lead to within our own community.

At best, it will lead to a wide range of Jewish people who seek to hide any traces of their identity online – a depressing phenomenon we are already beginning to see.

At worst, the next generation could internalise the overwhelming hatred and misinformation being directed at them. Most of us can think of examples of young British Jews who have grown up to become vicious useful idiots for those who most despise us. If nothing is done, we could be seeing such examples multiply one hundredfold.

We know that education is important because it gives our children the intellectual tools they need to go out into the world. If we fail to educate them about the reality of the hate they will encounter – but more than that, how to navigate that animus and personally overcome it – we are neglecting to fully prepare them for what is to come.