ADL-Boundless study finds simple messaging aids American in identifying online antisemitism

ByALEX CARSONOCTOBER 29, 2026 19:56

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center for Antisemitism Research (CAR) and educational organization Boundless released a new research study on Thursday that reveals that a brief message reminding young Americans that hatred of Jews is broadly rejected can significantly improve their ability to recognize and report online antisemitism.

Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director, stated that "young people are encountering antisemitism online every day, and too often they don't recognize it for what it is." Greenblatt added that "this research shows that something as simple as reminding people that hatred of Jews is not accepted by most Americans can move them to recognize it and speak up. That is a practical, scalable tool for educators, platforms and community leaders."

The study, entitled “Bridging the Gap: What Young Americans Miss About Online Antisemitism,” was conducted to examine how young adults interact with hateful online content and to test which educational approaches effectively influence recognition and reporting behavior.

The study surveyed 7,499 Americans aged 18 to 44 nationwide between July 9 and July 17, using the opinion research firm Cint. The sample encompassed 3,043 participants from Gen Z (ages 18 to 29) and 4,456 Millennials (ages 30 to 44), alongside 3,229 Democrats, 2,319 Independents, and 1,951 Republicans.

Participants were randomly assigned to read one of six short educational messages addressing antisemitism, ranging from neutral factual definitions and personal narratives, such as a story about a mother named Maya encountering a swastika near a school, to historical explanations of scapegoating, social norming, and broader prejudice, or to receive no message at all, before evaluating real examples of social media posts.

Many young adults struggle to identify antisemitic content, study finds

The evaluated social media post examples included classical antisemitic tropes, such as religious slurs referencing the ‘synagogues of Satan,' right-wing posts targeting officials with treason accusations over alleged Israeli allegiance, and contemporary rhetoric concerning Israel and Zionism from both the political left and right. The study also included non-ideological material and a racist control post featuring memes about Black achievements to measure false positives.

The findings show that many young adults struggle to identify antisemitic content even when it is overt. Among the untreated control group, between 22 percent and 29 percent disagreed that classical antisemitic posts were antisemitic. That difficulty increased when encountering contemporary antisemitism expressed through hostile language about Israel and Zionism, where disagreement rose to between 32 percent and 37 percent.

The study also measured participants' willingness to take action by reporting harmful material to social media platforms, finding that baseline readiness to report offensive posts was generally lower than overall recognition rates.

To explore and test whether brief educational prompts could bridge the gap between spotting hate and taking action, the study evaluated six different interventions. Most messages produced little measurable change. However, the social norming message, which emphasized via survey data that 82 percent of Americans want online antisemitic hate speech removed and 77 percent want government action, yielded statistically significant improvements in both the ability to spot offensive material and the willingness to report it to platforms.

Compared with individuals who saw no message, those who read the social norming intervention were 6.1 percent more likely to recognize a contemporary nonpartisan antisemitic post and 5.6 percent more likely to report it. The intervention also led to a 6.9 percent increase in understanding offensive right-wing contemporary posts and a 5.9 percent increase in reporting classical left-wing antisemitism.

“The impact of a short message that most Americans reject antisemitism was moderate, but when you consider how quick and easily scalable such a message is, this result is groundbreaking,” said Matt Williams, Vice President of the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research. “Moving the needle 6 percent on recognizing and reporting antisemitic content doesn't seem like much for a room full of people, but think of what a 6 percent reduction across millions could bring about.”

Study identifies generational differences

The study also highlighted generational differences in how young adults respond to online hate. While Millennials were somewhat better than Gen Z at spotting antisemitic posts, Gen Z respondents who successfully identified antisemitism were more likely to report it, at 77 percent compared to 68 percent for Millennials.

Williams told The Jerusalem Post that while the data surfaced this distinct generational contrast, determining whether younger users view reporting toxic content as an expected baseline duty while older users see offensive posts through the lens of free expression remains a question for further study.

The study also identified distinct patterns among political Independents. When presented with a disinformation awareness message explaining how antisemitism uses scapegoating and conspiracy theories to manipulate public anger, Independents showed an 11 percent increase in recognizing classical right-wing antisemitism and about a 10 percent improvement in understanding contemporary antisemitism from both political sides. Furthermore, the research found that Democrats and Republicans were equally likely to recognize antisemitism regardless of whether it originated from their own political side.

Based on these results, the report outlines several key actionable recommendations for educators, platform developers, and community leaders going forward.

The authors stress that initiative leaders must prioritize recognition above all else, cautioning that young adults cannot respond to or report online antisemitism if they fail to recognize it in the first place. Interventions must also specifically focus on training individuals to identify contemporary forms of antisemitism, particularly when expressed through language surrounding Israel and Zionism.

At the same time, organizations should avoid relying solely on generic educational content or emotional appeals, as brief exposures to standard informational text or perspective-taking narratives failed to yield significant shifts in behavior.

Furthermore, funding and strategic outreach should actively invest in scalable social norming campaigns and expand testing around disinformation awareness, as reinforcing that antisemitism is broadly rejected by the public proved to be the single most effective tool for driving action, while teaching media manipulation techniques showed unique promise among political Independents.

Interventions must be tailored by the target audience to account for distinct demographic gaps, addressing Gen Z’s primary challenge with content recognition alongside Millennials' action gap when deciding whether to report toxic posts.

Aviva Klompas, Co-founder and CEO of Boundless, told The Jerusalem Post that future efforts must look beyond simply documenting abuse. "We want to move beyond pointing out that antisemitism is a problem and figure out what actually works to address it," Klompas said. "When people see antisemitism online, particularly in posts with thousands of likes or shares, they may assume those views are widely accepted. One of the most important findings is that reminding people that social media doesn't necessarily reflect public opinion, and that most Americans reject antisemitism, can make a real difference."

Klompas further stated the need for adaptive strategies, telling the Post, "We also want to keep exploring how to build resilience to manipulation and disinformation. Our findings among political Independents suggest that helping people recognize the techniques used to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories may be particularly effective. Perhaps the broader lesson is that we need to question our own assumptions about what works. Just because a message resonates within the Jewish community doesn't mean it will persuade the audiences we're trying to reach. We need to test our approaches, learn from the evidence, and be prepared to adapt."

Addressing practical applications for technology platforms, Williams informed the Post that the ADL "continuously talk with and share our research with social platforms," while also exploring ways to operationalize findings independently.

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