Memes, so-called ‘jokes’, coded references and deliberate disinformation continue to deny and distort the reality of the genocide of the Jewish people during the Second World War, proliferating on social media and normalizing antisemitic narratives and the dehumanization associated with so much hate speech.

The recent report identified posts mocking the Holocaust through videos and memes that make light of the immense suffering of Jewish children, women and men during the Nazi genocide. By framing content as humour, these trends can spread faster across online platforms, being viewed, shared and sometimes copied among more “mainstream” internet communities.

“My great-grandmother and I receive harmful, abusive comments almost every day. But I try and not take this to heart, Dov said. “One of the best ways and the only vaccine to counter antisemitism and to counter denial and distortion is to educate and to use social media for good.”