AMPLIFYING ANTISEMITISM: How Recommender Algorithms serve harmful content to children

The research demonstrates that TikTok's algorithms can nudge users from benign lifestyle content toward antisemitic conspiracy theories and far-right tropes within hours. On Rumble, the 'Editor's Picks' section provides more direct exposure to overt antisemitism, including slurs and calls to violence, exacerbated by a lack of age-verification requirements. The report highlights the role of interactive features like stickers and sounds in amplifying hate and calls for systemic regulatory interventions by Ofcom to address passive exposure pathways.

• TikTok's recommender systems can rapidly lead minors to antisemitic content even without active searching; for example, a 15-year-old interested in male lifestyle influencers was served antisemitic conspiracy theories after only one hour on the platform.
• TikTok's algorithm creates pathways that escalate content from benign to harmful, where 'Culture & Lifestyle' content serves as a central entry point leading toward highly politicised and conspiratorial clusters.
• Interactive features on TikTok, specifically stickers, sounds, and comment sections, act as bridges that connect potentially benign videos to overt antisemitic content, including neo-Nazi imagery and Holocaust memes.
• There is a significant overlap between the 'manosphere' and antisemitism, where accounts prompted toward male lifestyle influencers were served misogynistic and antisemitic conspiracies, including the glorification of terrorist Elliot Rodger.
• Rumble's 'Editor's Picks' section exposes users to direct antisemitic slurs, conspiracy myths, and calls to violence immediately, unlike the gradual escalation seen on TikTok.
• Both TikTok and Rumble amplify persistent conspiracy narratives, such as those involving the Rothschilds, Jewish control of governments, and false claims that Jewish people were responsible for the 9/11 and October 7 attacks.
• Holocaust distortion and denial content, such as videos using coded phrases like '6 gorillion' or '271k' to contest the six million death toll, shows high levels of engagement with tens of thousands of likes and shares.
• Platform moderation is described as patchy and reactive; while some videos are removed, harmful stickers and coded sounds often remain, and Rumble's livestream features allow paid antisemitic GIFs to appear prominently.
• Rumble's non-account model represents a significant safeguarding gap because it allows minors to be recommended the same content as adults without requiring registration or age control.

APA

Institute for Strategic Dialogue (n.d.). AMPLIFYING ANTISEMITISM: How Recommender Algorithms serve harmful content to children. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Amplifying-Antisemitism_How-Recommender-Algorithms-Serve-Harmful-Content-to-Children.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Strategic Dialogue. AMPLIFYING ANTISEMITISM: How Recommender Algorithms serve harmful content to children. n.d. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Amplifying-Antisemitism_How-Recommender-Algorithms-Serve-Harmful-Content-to-Children.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Strategic Dialogue |title=AMPLIFYING ANTISEMITISM: How Recommender Algorithms serve harmful content to children |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Amplifying-Antisemitism_How-Recommender-Algorithms-Serve-Harmful-Content-to-Children.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforstrategicdialoguendamplifying, author = {{Institute for Strategic Dialogue}}, title = {{AMPLIFYING ANTISEMITISM: How Recommender Algorithms serve harmful content to children}}, institution = {Institute for Strategic Dialogue}, url = {https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Amplifying-Antisemitism_How-Recommender-Algorithms-Serve-Harmful-Content-to-Children.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }