Is Instagram antisemitic? Jewish, pro-Israel influencers speak out

A video circulating on social media claims to be a conversation between an Instagram user and a Meta customer service representative (CSR). Meta owns Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms.

Although there is overlap, the Instagram platform specializes in photos and videos over others that focus on text. The video opens with an unidentified Instagram user whose account has been flagged for posting “violent content” for sharing posts about the hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas.

She asks the Meta CSR: “Are you telling me that I can’t post anything on Instagram in support of the hostages?”

The CSR responds, “Yes ma’am. We would highly suggest not to post that kind of content.”

Is Instagram inherently antisemitic? We spoke to six Jewish, pro-Israel Instagram content creators to learn more about their experiences on Instagram and other social media platforms since Oct. 7.

Shai Albrecht

For 15 years, fitness trainer Shai Albrecht (@shaialbrecht 57.2K followers on Instagram) has been sharing on social media, including Facebook and X. She was raised in Maryland by Israeli ex-pat parents. Her social media content “started out fitness focused” until she became aware that “people didn’t realize Orthodox Jews came in all different ‘flavors,’ so I shifted to talking about the beauty in Judaism and Orthodoxy in all its different flavors.”

As soon as the war broke out, she says, “I shifted my focus again, to correcting all the lies people are sharing about Israel.”

Over the following two months, Albrecht gained 20,000 followers, but she has also paid a price for being outspoken in favor of Israel. She explains that when a large anti-Israel account reposts her content, “their followers will come to my page and report my videos and report my page, which shuts my page down.”

Called “shadow banning” in the social media world, it means that the algorithm prevents new followers from finding her content, sometimes even if they search for her by name. Albrecht has experienced this five or six times.

Originally designed to hide the content of users who were deemed problematic, shadow banning has become a political tool in the hands of social media platforms. When a user – in this case, one posting pro-Israel content – is shadow banned, their content still appears on the site but the platform is, in effect, suppressing its reach.

Even beyond Instagram’s frequent shadow banning, “TikTok is absolutely rigged against Israel and boosts pro-Palestinian accounts,” Albrecht stated after she was permanently banned from TikTok.

“I was posting all the same pro-Israel videos on TikTok, and TikTok banned me from their platform. They removed my page entirely.”

Does all this make her want to stop posting pro-Israel content?

“I’ve definitely thought about not speaking about Israel, but I could never stop. I’m far too passionate about Israel. I love my land and I love my people, and I believe we need to be heard.”

Albrecht relates the story of “an avidly pro-Palestinian follower who was filled with misinformation about Israel. Slowly she kept watching my videos and we were having discussions until she finally said, ‘I see that it’s not so black and white. I see that Jews do have a legitimate claim, and things aren’t necessarily as [I] thought they were.’

“I couldn’t believe that someone who was so focused on their own narrative took the time to listen and learn. It makes it all worth it.”

Instead of “thinking about whether I should stop sharing the truth, I believe the issue needs to focus on social media taking away people’s ability to share thoughts with each other.”

Ilan Muallem

Floridian Ilan Muallem (@ilan_muallem_official 8.9K followers) has been active on social media since the days of MySpace, posting content “related to my acting, martial arts, and travel,” he says.

His previous Instagram account was hacked and shut down, so he opened a new account that has been less active than the other. “I saw some growth on the [new] account after starting to post about the atrocities of Oct. 7, but not a crazy amount.”

While posting pro-Israel content is fighting a constant battle, Muallem says, he hasn’t considered stopping, “not for a second,” even though “the constant online hate is pretty disturbing. Lots of people send me private messages and death threats. [They] talk about how great the Holocaust was, [deny] the rape of Israelis, justifying and defending Hamas and a general growing trend of antisemitism that is confidently spewed everywhere.”

Muallem has to fight to keep his voice heard. “I have had my account censored numerous times. My TikTok account has been completely shadow banned and gets no more views after numerous  ‘community violations.’ Instagram has even threatened to erase my account, and I had to keep appealing.

“It’s a numbers game. There are more of the anti-Israel crowd online than the pro-Israel crowd, so they command more power. It’s why we need to be more vocal,” he asserts.

Muallem uses his voice,\ “to let other Jews worldwide know they are not alone in how they feel. I have had numerous people reach out saying that they feel we need more voices fighting the social media battle, but so many Jews are scared and don’t want to face the consequences. The most uplifting thing is knowing that there are so many other Jews who have woken up to the fact that they are Jewish.”

Anat Ishai

New olah Anat Ishai is better known on social media as “Challah Mom” (@challah.mom 134K followers). For three and a half years, she was seen on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok baking and dancing. “My content is inspiring, joyful, and Jewish. I share content about Israel, including my one-year adventure in Israel that turned into aliyah. I share my ideas about journey, growth, being open to change, and evolving.”

That all came crashing down. “Since Oct 7, my account was restricted to just followers after posting a high volume of content sharing what happened in Israel. My content was flagged as ‘non-recommendable’ according to Meta, and my engagement dropped from reaching millions to reaching 50,000.”

Ishai calls her greatest challenge since Oct 7 “watching my community be hurt by the constant harassment, bullying, and threats of violence against myself or the Jewish people on my platform. What has been most frustrating is the lack of response from Meta as a verified account. Their customer service cannot give me a time frame in which my restrictions will get lifted.

“I definitely believe that the algorithm is set against Jewish content creators.

“Non-Jewish voices aren’t being silenced, and their accounts aren’t being flagged. The Jewish people don’t have the numbers or the time to sit and flag someone’s content or report a creator. But the trolls of the Internet do, which is why many content creators like myself have ended up restricted,” she explains.

Despite the frustrations, silencing herself is “not an option for me. I’m careful about my personal security, but I will never stop speaking up for the Jewish people.”

At a recent challah bake she organized in Toronto, a Catholic follower whom Ishai describes as a “super fan” told her “how much she loves my account, supports me, the Jewish people, and Israel. She teaches at a Roman Catholic school and took the challah she made at my event and shared it with her staff and shared my story.

“Making bread together, breaking bread together, is how we can achieve peace” is Challah Mom’s message.

Yechiel Jacobs

Three months ago, 22-year-old Yechiel Jacobs of South Florida (@jacobsyechiel 88.K followers) burst onto the Instagram scene when he started making funny pro-Israel content, adopting the cadence of comedian Sebastian Maniscalco.

“I noticed there were a lot of pro-Palestinian videos going around that were blatantly false, so I decided to use my sense of humor to bring out the facts and do a response to debunk these videos,” Jacobs says.

In three months, he went from 1,000 followers to over 80,000. To help spread his humor, Jacobs recently inaugurated a YouTube channel and also shares content in a WhatsApp group.

“When I first started sharing my content, I encountered a lot of hate and antisemitism on Instagram,” he recounts.

 “But I pushed through because I knew what I was doing [was] the right thing, and I couldn’t let these fools get away with what they were saying. Eventually, my content got a bigger pro-Israel audience, and they have been so supportive in what I am doing.” This support, he says, encouraged him and motivated him to keep going.

“I’m able to share the truth while spreading laughter and smiles throughout the Jewish community in a time of such darkness. I’ve gotten countless messages like ‘I have not laughed since Oct. 7, but thanks to your content, you brought a smile to my face.’ The biggest motivation for me is making the Jewish people happy in a time when laughter and happiness is desperately needed,” he says.

Jacobs has had a gentler experience on Instagram than other pro-Israel voices.

“From my personal experience, I do not see that the Instagram algorithm is against my content. So far, all my content has been gaining lots of traction and getting lots of views; I did have one case, however, where Instagram took down one of my videos because a large group of pro-Palestinians reported my account.

“TikTok, on the other hand, is absolutely against pro-Israel content. I got permanently banned by TikTok, and I was posting the same exact stuff I had on Instagram.”

Hillel Fuld

Israel-based Hillel Fuld (@hilzfuld 47.1K followers on Instagram and 118.6K followers on X) is best known for “sharing about the world of tech and marketing, focusing on entrepreneurship, Israeli innovation, and the start-up ecosystem.” He is also active on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

“Since Oct. 7, the content has almost entirely shifted to spreading the message of Israel and the truth about the war,” he reports. As a result, “the numbers started growing like crazy. Everything shot up, from reach and views to new followers and engagement. It’s been both humbling and inspiring to see over half a billion views. It just shows the strength of Israel and the community rallying for a cause, seeking truth, and engaging about Israel and its place in the world.”

And yet, like many pro-Israel content creators, Fuld’s advocacy doesn’t go unchallenged.

“It’s very hard to open your phone [multiple] times a day to hate messages, death threats, [and] genocidal incitement on such a new level. The personal attacks are really horrible, and the language they use is pretty sick. I would usually spend a lot of my day blocking and reporting but recently started telling them that I’ve donated money on their behalf to the IDF,” he says.

Nevertheless, Fuld is not dissuaded. “None of us should be silent. I tell everyone to go on their social media and share the message. Speak up. Everyone can make an impact. I might occasionally have to put my phone down, but I will never stop speaking out,” he stresses.

On the positive side, “People reach out to me every day with positive stories, thanking me for informing them and for giving them real news and updates from Israel. Many tell me they’ve taken on new mitzvot or given charity. Someone told me they started keeping Shabbat, another started putting on tefillin. It’s very positive, seeing real impact.”

HIS EXPERIENCE echoes that of other content creators. “There is definitely a feeling that there is a bias against Israel and that pro-Israel content is unfairly flagged or blocked. Instagram has not given my account too much trouble, although I’ve seen it block other users and suppress content. Most recently, we’ve had trouble with TikTok, which often blocks posts automatically, necessitating an appeals process to restore, with several getting blocked permanently,” says Fuld, for whom this work is intensely personal.

“My family was personally affected by terror when my brother Ari was murdered five years ago by a 16-year-old Palestinian kid.”

He says his “transition to pro-Israel content was natural and quick, with a big part of my motivation driven by my brother and his love of Israel.”

Fuld concludes, “This war has affected all of us and brought a new reality to the Jewish people. We are more united than ever, suffering and seeing miracles together. We have soldiers, sons and daughters and families on the front lines. I feel I am doing my small part for the Jewish people with the tools and abilities God gave me.”

Hodaya Stark

Israeli Hodaya Stark (@hodsandstuff 11.1K followers) started sharing on social media in earnest after Oct. 7.

“It was basically me just documenting this crazy reality we were flung into and sharing it with my own friends and family. Slowly, slowly, more and more people started following and caring, which I am still surprised by,” she says.

As her page gained traction, she fell in love with creating content. “The more I shared, the more I grew. I talk to my followers like they are my friends because that’s truly how I feel, and as a result of that, I have seen high engagement.”

Referring to herself as “a social media fetus,” she’s still stunned “whenever larger accounts [and] more seasoned creators follow me or reach out in support of my content.

“I started sharing my own story and experience as a Jewish mom of three with a husband in the IDF reserves; but as my account grew, I obviously received a lot more hate. The more hate I received, the more apparent it became to me that the rise in antisemitism and the misinformation about Israel was something I could not remain silent about. I cannot sit idly by as the world normalizes the Jew hate and blood libels against Israel.

“This social media war is critical. Remaining silent is not an option. Nobody else is coming to our rescue. We need to do it ourselves,” Stark asserts.

Despite the hate, she has benefited from the experience of speaking out. “The connections I have built and the channels it has opened up for me with people all over the world have been my saving grace during this time period, especially while my husband was [serving in reserve duty]. This entire experience for me has been uplifting and positive, despite the hate that we are trying to combat. War does not have silver linings; but if it did, mine would be the small community of support and togetherness I have built for myself on social media.”

While acknowledging that social media algorithms are “absolutely rigged,” she says she’s “not positive it’s Instagram’s fault.

“We are outnumbered. That’s the reality. If thousands of ‘their’ accounts come and report the few of ‘our’ accounts and posts, of course we are going to be flagged and banned. They make it their mission to silence us, and unfortunately it is many times successful,” she says.

“Some people ask me, “Why do you do this? It’s not worth it. You’re not going to change their minds.’

“I think it’s important to mention that the goal isn’t to change their minds. It’s to put ourselves on the map.”

“Imagine the alternative,” she says.

“Imagine nobody was speaking up and nobody was countering the lies and misinformation. Nobody was sharing their experiences. We would be in much worse shape. We would be much more hated. And we would all feel much more alone.

“So even if we’re not ‘changing their minds,’ we are making an impact on the ‘I don’t know enough’-ers of the world who could be swayed either way, depending on the information they’re presented with – and [we’re making] an impact on the Jews and Israelis who probably often feel very lonely within all the noisy hate,” she concludes. 

Additional pro-Israel Instagram accounts worth following

Jewish voices

• @adielofisrael Adiel Cohen (61.1K followers): Exposing anti-Israel rhetoric on social media
• @ashleywaxanbakshi Ashley Waxman Bakshi (363K followers): Former beauty and lifestyle blogger who transitioned to becoming a passionate advocate for Israel
• @abrahamhamra Abraham Hamra (26.9K followers): Lawyer and Syrian Jewish refugee living in the US
• @eylonalevy Eylon Levy (212K followers): Superstar Israeli government spokesman since Oct. 7
• @joanofjudea Joan of Judea (23.4K followers): Plain-spoken advocate of Jews and Israel
• @Lilaq_Logan98 Lilaq Logan (45.1K followers): Young Jewish woman, often responds directly to anti-Israel posts
• @matanelsamin Matan L Samin (7.6K followers): Many of his pro-Israel posts have Hebrew captions
• @that_semite Yirmiyahu (51.8K followers): Pro-Israel educator and activist
• @theamyalbertson Amy Albertson (32.4K followers): Chinese-American Jew combating online antisemitism

Non-Jewish voices 

• @carolinedamore Caroline D’Amore (137K followers): Identifiable by her pink hair, D’Amore came to understand and advocate for Israel’s perspective after Oct. 7.
• @danielryanspaulding Daniel Ryan Spaulding (210K followers): Openly gay comedian who introduced the Internet to the woke, leftist personality of “Purple Hair Girl”
• @KasimHafeez22 Kasim Hefeez (64.7K followers): Christian Zionist working for CUFI (Christians United for Israel), brought up as an antisemitic Muslim
• @lalshareef Loay Alshareef (115K followers): Muslim from Abu Dhabi, fluent in Arabic, English, and Hebrew
• @mansorashkar Mansor Ashkar (30.7K followers): Arab Israeli travel blogger now telling Israel’s story 
• @nonjewishnanny Adriana Rosie (68.1K followers): Young woman who works as a nanny for a Jewish family and speaks out on behalf of Israel
• @ryojapan Ryo (25.9K followers): A young Japanese man trying to make sense out of his experiences living in Israel
• @xaviaer Xaviaer DuRousseau (137K followers): A Conservative black commentator who posts on social issues, including support for Israel’s actions in Gaza

The writer is a freelance journalist and expert on the non-Jewish awakening to Torah happening in our day. She is the editor of Ten From The Nations and Lighting Up The Nations.