Antisemitism on mainstream social media after Hamas terror attack: A case study of online discourse and its impact on Jewish youth in Sweden
By: Pontus Rudberg and Isabella Pistone

References
- Andersson, L. M. (2000). En jude är en jude är en jude… Representationer av “juden” i svensk skämtpress omkring 1900–1930 [A Jew is a Jew is a Jew… Representations of the “Jew” in Swedish humour press around 1900–1930]. Nordic Academic Press.
- Askanius, T. (2021). On frogs, monkeys, and execution memes: Exploring the humor-hate nexus at the intersection of neo-nazi and alt-right movements in Sweden. Television & New Media, 22(2), 147–165.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476420982234 - Awan, I., & Zempi, I. (2016). The affinity between online and offline anti-Muslim hate crime: Dynamics and impacts. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 27, 1–8.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2016.02.001 - Bachner, H. (1999). Återkomsten: Antisemitism i Sverige efter 1945, Natur och kultur.
- Becker, M. J. (2018). Analogien der ‚Vergangenheitsbewältigung‘. Antiisraelische Projektionen in Leserkommentaren der Zeit und des Guardian [Analogies of ‘coming to terms with the past’: Anti-Israel projections in reader comments in Die Zeit and The Guardian]. Nomos.
- Brå (2024). Polisanmälda hatbrott med antisemitiska motiv under hösten 2023. Brottsförebyggande rådet.
- Cohen, K., Kaati, L., & Pelzer, B. (2021). Antisemitism in social media: Conspiracies, stereotypes, and Holocaust denial. Swedish Defence Research Agency.
https://tinyurl.com/52c7xw23 - Czymmek, Q. (2022). The impact of antisemitic content and hate speech on social media on young Jewish social media users. In M. Hübscher, & S. von Mering (Eds.), Antisemitism on social media (pp. 181–192). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003200499 - Davey, J., & Ebner, J. (2019). ‘The great replacement’: The violent consequences of mainstreamed extremism. Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
https://tinyurl.com/4xkpk3vc - Due Enstad, J. (2024). Scandinavia: Some cold realities [Antisemitism Worldwide 2023 report]. Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, Tel Aviv University.
https://cst.tau.ac.il/antisemitismworldwide-report-for-2023/ - European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2019). Young Jewish Europeans: Perceptions and experiences of antisemitism. Publications Office of the European Union.
https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2019-young-jewish-europeans_en.pdf - Fein, H. (1987). Dimensions of antisemitism: Attitudes, collective accusations, and actions. In H. Fein (Ed.), The persisting question: Sociological perspectives and social contexts of modern antisemitism (pp. 67–85). De Gruyter.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110858914.67 - Fladmoe, A., & Nadim, M. (2017). Silenced by hate? Hate speech as a social boundary to free speech. In A. H. Midtbøen, K. Steen-Johnsen, & K. Thorbjørnsrud (Eds.), Boundary struggles: Contestations of free speech in the Norwegian public sphere (pp. 45–75). Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
- Flyvbjerg, B. (2003). Fem missförstånd om fallstudieforskning [Five misconceptions about case study research]. Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, 106(3), 185–206.
https://journals.lub.lu.se/st/article/view/2087 - Gelber, K., & McNamara, L. (2016). Evidencing the harms of hate speech. Social Identities, 22(3), 324–341.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2015.1128810 - Haanshuus, B. P. (2023). Overcoming hate: Jewish minority voices’ strategies for participating in the news media. Journalism Practice, 18(2), 396–412.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2023.2246030 - Haanshuus, B. (2024). Old hate in new media: Understandings of antisemitism and boundary-making in the Norwegian digital public sphere [Doctoral dissertation, University of Oslo, Norway].
https://hdl.handle.net/10852/113993 - Haanshuus, B., & Ihlebæk, K. (2021). Recontextualising the news: How antisemitic discourses are constructed in extreme far-right alternative media. Nordicom Review, 42(s1) 37–50.
https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0005 - Hübscher, M., & von Mering, S. (Eds.) (2022). Antisemitism on social media. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003200499 - Infostat. (2023, November 20). Antisemitism i Sverige i svallvågorna av sjunde oktober [Antisemitism in Sweden in the surge of October 7th]. Judiska Centralrådet [The Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities].
- Jikeli, G. (2023). Holocaust distortions on social media after 10/7: The antisemitic mobilization. Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.
https://doi.org/10.17613/2fzf-rw91 - Katzin, M., & Rudberg, P. (2024). Consequences of 7 October for Jews in Sweden: Thoughts, emotions and reflections. In C. Mattsson, R. Andersson Malmros, & M. Sager (Eds.), Antisemitism in Sweden after 7 October: experiences and consequences (pp. 18–43). Segerstedt Institute, University of Gothenburg.
https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-34845 - Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2000). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (3rd ed.). Sage.
- Laqueur, W. (2006). The changing face of antisemitism: From ancient times to the present days. Oxford University Press.
- Miehling, D. (2024). Online-Antisemitismus verstehen: Hassrede im Web 2.0 Eine vergleichende Studie zwischen der Mainstream-Plattform X und Fringe-Communities auf Telegram [Understanding online antisemitism: Hate speech in Web 2.0 – A comparative study between the mainstream platform X and fringe communities on Telegram]. Nomos.
- Mudde, C. (2000). The ideology of the extreme right. Manchester University Press.
- Riessman, C. K. (2004). Narrative interviewing. In M. S. Lewis-Beck, A. Bryman, & T. Futing Liao (Eds.), The Sage encyclopedia of social science research methods (p. 710). Sage.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412950589.n612 - Rose, H., Guhl, J., & Comerford, M. (2024). Rise in antisemitism on both mainstream and fringe social media platforms following Hamas’ terrorist attack. Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
https://tinyurl.com/npry7v9s - Shani, M., Gerber, J., & Herb, M. (2024). Der 7. Oktober, ein Jahr danach: Resilienz und Bewältigung unter Juden in Deutschland angesichts zunehmenden Antisemitismus und kollektiven Traumas [October 7th, one year later: Resilience and coping among Jews in Germany in the face of increasing antisemitism and collective trauma]. Open Science Framework.
https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/z437q - Schwarz-Friesel, M. (2019). Judenhass im Internet (1. Auflage) [Antisemitism on the internet (1st ed.)]. Hentrich und Hentrich.
- Schwarz-Friesel, M. (2020). “Antisemitism 2.0” – The spreading of Jew-hatred on the world wide web. In A. Lange, K. Mayerhofer, D. Porat, & L. Schiffman (Eds.), Comprehending and confronting antisemitism: A multi-faceted approach (Vol. 1) (pp. 311–338). De Gruyter.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110618594-026 - Schwarz-Friesel, M., & Reinharz, J. (2017). Inside the antisemitic mind. Brandeis University Press.
- Silverstein, Y., & Block, C. (2025). Making the invisible visible: A taxonomy of contemporary antisemitic experiences on college campuses. Journal of Jewish Education, 9(2), 132–157.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15244113.2025.2482060 - Tavory, I., & Timmermans, S. (2014). Abductive analysis: Theorizing qualitative research. The University of Chicago Press.
- Teter, M. (2020). Blood libel: On the trail of an antisemitic myth. Harvard University Press.
- Trachtenberg, J. (1984). The devil and the Jews: The medieval conception of the Jew and its relation to modern anti-semitism (2nd ed.). The Jewish Publication Society.
- Törnberg, A., & Törnberg, P. (2024). Intimate communities of hate: Why social media fuels far-right extremism (1st ed.). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003108344 - Webman, E., & Naamat, T. (Eds.). (2020). Antisemitism worldwide, 2019 and beginning of 2020. Tel Aviv University.
- Weimann, G., & Masri, N. (2022). New antisemitism on TikTok. In M. Hübscher, & S. von Mering (Eds.), Antisemitism on social media (p. 167–180). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003200499 - Wistrich, R. (1999). Demonizing the other: Antisemitism, racism and xenophobia. Harwood Academic.
- Wodak, R. (2015). The politics of fear: What right-wing populist discourses mean. Sage.
Language: English
Page range: 38 - 58
Published on: May 15, 2026
Published by: University of Gothenburg Nordicom
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year
Keywords:
Related subjects:
© 2026 Pontus Rudberg, Isabella Pistone, published by University of Gothenburg Nordicom
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.