Nearly 30 Percent Of Anti-Semitic Online Attacks Are Bots

Anti-Semitism and hate crimes have surged in the U.S. over the past couple of years, and almost 30 percent of accounts repeatedly tweeting against Jews on Twitter appear to be bots, according to a recently released study from the Anti-Defamation League.

Researchers at the ADL analyzed 7.5 million Twitter messages between Aug. 31 and Sept. 17. Billionaire George Soros, who is Jewish, was a leading subject of anti-Semitic tweets, according to the researchers.

The study reports that while human users still account for the majority of derogatory Twitter traffic in the lead-up to the midterm elections, "political bots—which explicitly focus on political communication online—are playing a significant role in artificially amplifying derogatory content over Twitter about Jewish people."