Anti-Semitic Google searches surged after recent attacks on Jewish Americans, reaching a 12-month high after the Pittsburgh shooting in October, according to an analysis from CNN released Wednesday.
Using a year’s wortn of U.S. anti-Semitic Google searches and an index of 0-100, the study from advocacy group HOPE Not Hate and commissioned by CNN found that two major attacks against Jews within the past 12 months — the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre and the Passover shooting in California in April — were followed by higher numbers of searches with hateful language.
{mosads}The analysis focused on users looking for material using phrases including “Jews must die,” “kill Jews” and “I hate Jews.” The frequency of searches for all these phrases rose after the two deadly shootings.
A rise in Google searches after these attacks was coupled with more anti-Jewish postings on sites including 4chan and 8chan, CNN reports. Many of those comments spread “false flag” conspiracy theories that it was actually Jews who attacked other Jews.
In 2018, there were 1,879 recorded anti-Semitic attacks, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), including the Tree of Life mass shooting, the deadliest assault on Jewish Americans in U.S. history.
In March, the ADL reported a 182 percent jump in incidents of white supremacist propaganda from 2017 to 2018.
The analysis comes after social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, have been criticized for their handling of posts containing hate speech.
Facebook recently announced that it had permanently banned many so-called “dangerous” figures — such as Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has come under fire for comments considered anti-Semitic and homophobic, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.