I used to explain the tenth example of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, “Comparing Israel to Nazis or Israeli policy to that of Nazis,” to non-experts in Jew-hatred in the following way, “That would be like accusing a rape victim of being a rapist.” Aside from the historical Soviet roots of this antisemitic comparison between the Jewish State and the Third Reich Nazis, the juxtaposition of calling a victim of rape “a rapist,” the absurdity of blaming a victim for the very violent crime that they were victimized by, would at once provide clarity as to the outlandishness of this claim and also demonstrate why such a claim was deeply offensive, demonizing and, in the case of leveraging this accusation against Jews as a group, often meant to promote bigotry and hostility. I thought that this explanation would make carnal sense to everyone — that it was a sound allegory — until CyberWell delved into the latest online trend of Oct. 7 denial: denying the mass and deliberate use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas and its allies against Israeli women on Oct. 7.

CyberWell’s latest report, released ahead of International Women’s Day, unpacks the online evolution, revisionism and unprecedented exposure of the Oct. 7 rape denial sub-narratives on our most-used social media platforms. Our team of professional online antisemitism and digital policy analysts vetted and reported on a relatively small dataset of just 135 online examples denying the mass rape of Oct. 7 and found that this content reached an astounding audience of over 15 million views across major social media platforms. X, formerly Twitter, contributed to over 80% of those views.

The specific conspiracy iterations of this Oct. 7 denial sub-narrative claim that:

Despite these narratives violating the policies of the social media platforms hosting this content, the removal rate by the platforms dwindled to 11.6%, a far cry from the average removal rate of online antisemitism at 32% in 2023. Instagram produced the lowest removal rate of Oct. 7 rape denial content with a zero percent action rate, despite the content being reported to the platform via user accounts.

This latest vile Oct. 7 denial sub-narrative puts social media apps in new territory — the large-scale platforming of mass rape denial. This phenomenon carries its own weight — the reinforcement of rape culture and the oppression of women everywhere.

On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists committed the same sadistic practice of purposeful widespread systematic sexual violence that led to the rape of an estimated, “250,000 and 500,000 women and girls in the 1994 during the genocide in Rwanda, more than 60,000 in the civil war in Sierra Leone, between 20,000 and 50,000 in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and at least 200,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1996,” according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

However, this time Hamas live-streamed their violent executions and pillaging, revealing the newest and most important tool of war that is ripe for terrorist exploitation — our major social media platforms. The plot twist: the same social media platforms that were leveraged as weapons of psychological warfare by Hamas are now being used to gaslight victims of rape, sexual assault and terror through their apologists in a series of conspiratory online sub-narratives that are directly influencing traditional news sources sworn to gate-keeping accurate reporting.

The same week that the United Nations special envoy for sexual violence in conflict confirmed the systematic use of sexual violence and gang rape during the Oct. 7 attacks, other publications are amplifying the rape-denial sub-narrative by citing unqualified ‘independent fact checkers’ that promoted the Oct. 7 denial on social media on the same day of the massacre. Through social media inaction, terror groups are learning that platforms can be manipulated effectively to deny the same atrocities they commit in order to avoid international culpability for their actions.

Unless social media platforms mobilize to make major inroads into removing and blocking Oct. 7 denial content at scale, we will no doubt see a repetitive cycle of exploitation and gaslighting by other terrorist organizations targeting Western democracies in the future.

As accusations circle about at least two alleged rape cases committed by Israeli Defense Forces on Palestinian detainees, following one of the most well-documented massacres and mass rapes of Israeli women, one thing should be crystal clear: there is no litmus test when it comes to rape. It is always abhorrent, never acceptable, and has been weaponized against women and girls as a tool of war for centuries. Systematic rape is a crime against humanity that perpetuates lifelong trauma and widespread rejection and disempowerment of rape survivors long after the end of armed conflict. As we grapple with the efficacy and legitimacy of the humanitarian and international legal institutions that the collective international community set up after World War II, we should be careful not to discard this crucial understanding. Moreover, we should apply this principle to the same platforms that self-govern through digital policies created in the image of humanitarian law.

Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor is the founder and executive director of CyberWell, an Israeli tech nonprofit working with social media platforms to monitor and catalog antisemitic rhetoric while improving enforcement and enhancement efforts vis-à-vis community standards and hate speech policies.

QOSHE - Social media platforms are denying mass sexual violence against women - Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor 
menu_open
Columnists Actual . Favourites . Archive
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close
Aa Aa Aa
- A +

Social media platforms are denying mass sexual violence against women

6 0
19.03.2024

I used to explain the tenth example of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, “Comparing Israel to Nazis or Israeli policy to that of Nazis,” to non-experts in Jew-hatred in the following way, “That would be like accusing a rape victim of being a rapist.” Aside from the historical Soviet roots of this antisemitic comparison between the Jewish State and the Third Reich Nazis, the juxtaposition of calling a victim of rape “a rapist,” the absurdity of blaming a victim for the very violent crime that they were victimized by, would at once provide clarity as to the outlandishness of this claim and also demonstrate why such a claim was deeply offensive, demonizing and, in the case of leveraging this accusation against Jews as a group, often meant to promote bigotry and hostility. I thought that this explanation would make carnal sense to everyone — that it was a sound allegory — until CyberWell delved into the latest online trend of Oct. 7 denial: denying the mass and deliberate use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas and its allies against Israeli women on Oct. 7.

CyberWell’s latest report, released ahead of International Women’s Day, unpacks the online evolution, revisionism and unprecedented exposure of the Oct. 7 rape denial sub-narratives on our most-used social media platforms. Our team of professional online antisemitism and........

© Daily Messenger (MPNnow)


Get it on Google Play