A Home for Hate: Study Links X Policies to Explosive Spread of Antisemitism

"A Home for Hate," published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), analyzed posts from February 1, 2024, to January 31, 2025. Its core finding is that Musk's “free speech” policies for X are amplifying hateful and antisemitic content. 

Protesters in New York holding signs against Elon Musk

Skyrocketing Hate and User Reach

The study found a massive volume of anti-Jewish hatred being spread freely across the platform. Researchers identified 679,584 posts containing antisemitism that were likely to violate X's policies. Despite X's public promises to reduce the visibility of hateful content, these posts were viewed an alarming 193 million times during the one-year study period.

Antisemitic conspiracy theories are particularly rampant and successful on X. The study found that while conspiracy theories—such as those related to "Jewish control or power," "Jewish satanic conspiracies," and "Holocaust denial"—made up 59% of the antisemitic posts, they accounted for a disproportionate 73% of all likes of the studied posts.

Monetization and the Failure of Fact-Checking

A critical component of X’s failure, according to the report, is its monetization model, which provides a hospitable environment for hate. The platform has allowed the rise of "antisemitism influencers"—just ten individual accounts that accounted for 32% of all likes on the identified antisemitic posts. For nine out of these ten influencers, X was their largest platform in terms of follower count.

Crucially, 6 of the 10 influencers were verified by subscribing to X Premium. Verification grants these users a blue checkmark, a visibility boost across the platform, and opportunities to monetize their content surrounding hate speech and antisemitism. The study estimates that ads displayed near the content of just five of these influencers could earn X up to $141,239 a year in ad revenue.

One of the most controversial accounts is white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. In 2024, Musk worked to have Fuentes’ account reinstated stating that “It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than grow simmering in the darkness.”

However, this mindset has led to open hate speech and an unwelcoming environment on X that users are exploiting for profit. As CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed summarized about antisemitism on X: “But to see it being tolerated, monetized and amplified so openly is still shocking.”

X’s Content Policy and Moderation Failing

In addition to profitable amplification, the platform’s primary tool for combating misinformation is failing. Musk has claimed that the Community Notes system ensures that "if somebody tries to push a falsehood like Holocaust denial... they can immediately be corrected". However, the report found that out of the top 300 most-viewed antisemitic conspiracy posts, only 4 had a publicly visible Community Note attached. 

On top of this, the notes were posted so late that they appeared for only an average of 22% of a post’s viewership. Thus, even for the small proportion of posts with a note, the note would not be visible for users. As a result, Musk’s primary method of regulation is failing and leaving no way for content that violates policies to be moderated. 

As Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs states: “Antisemitic conspiracy theories and hate that were once fringe have been wholly normalized - thriving in plain sight and amplified by X’s failure to live up to its own policies.”