Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Lipstadt: Social-media giants aren’t tackling antisemitism

Following a meeting with Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, TikTok and X, the U.S. State Department antisemitism envoy says no new policies were agreed to.

Greenblatt Lipstadt
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, and Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, at the Anti-Defamation League’s “Never Is Now” conference, held in New York on March 6-7, 2024. Credit: ADL.

Social-media platforms have not agreed to implement new policies regarding online antisemitism, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt said on Thursday.

Lipstadt, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, met earlier in the day with top technology companies to discuss steps to combat online antisemitism. Among the options discussed were the creation of special teams to focus on the issue and training programs to teach employees how to identify Jew-hatred.

In attendance at the meeting were representatives from Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and X.

“There’s good reasons to beat up on them [tech giants] in terms of antisemitism online,” Lipstadt told Bloomberg News.

“But too many people have done that and nothing has changed, and we were hoping that we could look for best practices,” she added.

There was never a question whether bar and bat mitzvahs were going to continue, says Rabbi Marla Hornsten at Temple Israel, despite the havoc that had teachers and children evacuate the building.
“We will not rest in the mission to stop the spread of radical Islam,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stated.
The panel conducts research on antisemitic activity and works with public and private entities on statewide initiatives on Holocaust and genocide education.
“If it’s something that families are attuned to, then I think it may be a good way to engage the kids on that level,” Rabbi Steven Burg, of Aish, told JNS.
“I was a little surprised at the U.K. to be honest with you,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House. “They should have acted a lot faster.”
“It is imperative that university administrators rise to the occasion to take a firm stand against antisemitism and racial violence,” Sen. Bill Cassidy wrote.