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Minister Bennett: New system combats online anti-Semitism in real-time

Israel has launched a system that monitors online anti-Semitism and hate speech and converts it into actionable data. 

By: World Israel News Staff

Minister of Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett on Thursday revealed the Anti-Semitism Cyber Monitoring System (ACMS), a unique system developed by the Ministry over the past year that provides real-time data and analysis of online anti-Semitism.

The system was launched ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was marked on Saturday.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant. From today every anti-Semite online should know he is exposed, the hatred he spreads is being watched and he will be held responsible,” Bennett stated.

“It’s time to set a mirror in front of our enemies and expose the ugly face of the modern anti-Semite, he who tweets swastikas instead of branding them in the street,” he added, vowing that “from now we will know who the leading anti-Semites are and they will be dealt with.”

Bennett cautioned that anti-Semitism “has not vanished, it has shifted shape and moved from the street to the web.”

“We must turn the spotlight to the places from which anti-Semitism stems and spreads, as part of the mutual responsibility Jews have for one another,” he said, “especially during the week we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.”

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The ACMS system, which has been operational for a month, has already gathered shocking data about online anti-Semitism.

Some 409,000 anti-Semitic posts and tweets, written by 30,000 people, were monitored and analyzed.

Every day some 200,000 suspected posts and tweets are scanned by the system, while some 10,000 anti-Semitic posts and tweets are discovered on a daily basis.

The three cities spreading the most anti-Semitism as of now are Santiago in Chile, Denipro in Ukraine and Bucharest in Romania. In the West, Paris and London are the most anti-Semitic cities in the cyber world.

Of note, on December 6, following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, online anti-Semitism grew nine-fold compared with previous days.

ACMS was developed with Israel’s Ministry of Defense and provides real-time interactive maps showing anti-Semitic activity. It can dissect and display the information based on multiple factors, including geography, language, date and more.

Based on self-learning artificial intelligence, the program recognizes key words and patterns, while analyzing the context text in which they were written.

The ACMS uses the working definition adopted by IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) and monitors English, French, German and Arabic posts.

In addition to the software, the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs established a command center, manned by experts who receive the data from the system and present it to the relevant officials.

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When needed, the ministry works with the authorities in other countries to take concrete steps against those spreading hate.

The platform will also provide data for Israeli officials holding diplomatic meetings, as it can present data relevant to any meeting with foreign dignitaries. It will also be a tool for journalists and researchers looking for data on the topic.