30% of Spanish-language Google Searches for 'Jew' Return anti-Semitic Content, Report Finds

Videos in Spanish denying the Holocaust are also found to be receiving a growing number of likes, watchdog report finds

Sep 5, 2017

Some 30 percent of the page results returned in a Google search for the word “Jew,” or “Judio,” on Spanish-language websites contain anti-Semitic content. This is one of the conclusions of a report on web results for 2016 by the Web Observatory, or Observatorio Web, a Buenos Aires-based watchdog group monitoring online hatred.

Another trend is that anti-Semitic videos on YouTube, the leading social network video platform, had a growing number of likes throughout last year. In January they received 3 likes for every 1 dislike, but by the end of the year the figure was 4-1, revealing an increased proportion of approbation, according the report released on Friday.

According to the Web Observatory, some 484 Spanish-language videos denying the Holocaust have received nearly 1.7 million views collectively during 2016 alone.

“There is a worrying positive viewing of anti-Semitic content and that is a growing trend. The most viewed are about Holocaust denial,” Obervatorio Web Director Ariel Siedler told JTA. Some of the videos are tagged with the word “holocuento,” a term used to lampoon the Holocaust or suggest it did not happen, similarly to “holohoax” in English or “shoananas” in French.

Argentina has had an anti-discrimination law on the books since 1988. “Although the current legislation serves in cases of discrimination, an update should be considered to include the Internet and social networks,” added Siedler.

The main trends in the microblogging tool Twitter are the criticism of the Jews linked to actions by Israel and the trivialization of the Holocaust.

Observatorio Web is a joint initiative of the Latin American Jewish Congress, the regional branch of the World Jewish Congress; the DAIA political umbrella organization of Argentina’s Jewish community; and the AMIA Jewish community center, developed to combat discrimination on Spanish-language websites. Since 2016, it has been a member of the global watchdog INACH.