TEL AVIV — A new report from CyberWell, a nonprofit that monitors online antisemitism and acts as a trusted flagger for major social platforms, documents a sharp rise in election-related antisemitic content across democratic countries and finds that enforcement by platforms lagged during recent national election cycles.
The study, released ahead of World Democracy Day, analyzed election-related posts from 2023 through 2025 in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia. It found repeated circulation and amplification of classic antisemitic tropes, including conspiracies that falsely allege disproportionate or covert Jewish control of politics and elections.
CyberWell flagged widespread enforcement shortfalls. The report identifies X, formerly Twitter, as hosting the highest volume of election-related antisemitic content while removing the least amount after reports were filed.
By contrast, YouTube registered the lowest incidence of such content in CyberWell’s sample, a result the organization attributes to YouTube’s explicit prohibition of election-related hate speech against protected groups.
Meta and TikTok showed removal rates close to CyberWell’s platform-average of about 40 percent for antisemitic violations after trusted reports were submitted. CyberWell noted that TikTok’s smaller sample size may reflect either lower prevalence or more effective proactive moderation.
Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, CyberWell founder and chief executive, warned that antisemitic narratives blaming Jews or Zionists for electoral problems surge during politically sensitive periods and that these narratives have historically led to scapegoating and violence. She urged platforms to refine their election-related hate speech enforcement and to improve detection of coded language and visual cues.
The report ties its findings to wider concerns about democratic backsliding and rising authoritarian tendencies, which researchers say increase the stakes for both civic integrity and the spread of targeted hate during elections. CyberWell cites broader research showing growing dissatisfaction with democratic institutions in some countries.
CyberWell offers several practical recommendations. They include clarifying platform rules to explicitly cover election-related hate speech, enhanced moderator training to distinguish legitimate political discourse from targeted attacks on protected groups, and better detection technology for emojis, memes, and coded language that often accompany antisemitic posts.
The group also called on social media companies to treat enforcement of hate speech policies during elections as a core component of safe and fair civic processes, and to act proactively rather than reactively. “Taking care to enforce digital policies against hate speech at scale during election time is a crucial part of ensuring safe elections and preventing additional erosion of trust in our democratic institutions,” the report states.
For Jewish and Zionist communities, the report is a clear signal that online harms translate into real-world risk. CyberWell frames improved digital enforcement as both a public safety priority and a defense of the integrity of democratic debate, urging stronger cooperation between civil society, platforms, and governments.
CyberWell’s World Democracy Day Elections Report is available from the organization.
This article is based on verified information from CyberWell’s World Democracy Day Elections Report, CyberWell public materials, and Pew Research Center, and related democracy analyses.